TY - JOUR
T1 - A boundary for histone acetylation allows distinct expression patterns of the Ad4BP/SF-1 and GCNF loci in adrenal cortex cells
AU - Ishihara, Satoru L.
AU - Morohashi, Ken Ichirou
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Hiroyuki Sasaki and Wahyu Purbowasito for kindly advising on nuclear matrix binding assay. We also thank Namrita Dhillon for critical reading of the manuscript. This work has been supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (to K.M.).
PY - 2005/4/8
Y1 - 2005/4/8
N2 - Ad4BP/SF-1 is a nuclear receptor whose expression is restricted to tissues involved in steroid hormone synthesis such as the adrenal cortex and gonads. Recent sequence data analysis has shown that the Ad4BP/SF-1 gene is located only 13 kb downstream of the last exon of the neighboring GCNF gene that is expressed in some neurons and gonadal germ cells. Despite the close proximity of the two genes, regulatory elements from one do not interfere with the transcription of the neighboring gene, resulting in distinct expression patterns of Ad4BP/SF-1 and GCNF. This observation has led to the prediction that an insulator element must exist between the two loci to establish independent transcription units. We performed DNase I hypersensitivity assays on the adrenal cortex cell line, Y-1, to test for the existence of an insulator. Three hypersensitive sites were identified in the region spanning 2.1 kb between the last exon of GCNF and the first exon of Ad4BP/SF-1. The most upstream site contains a binding site for CTCF, a known insulator protein, while the other sites are predicted to associate with the nuclear matrix. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis using anti-acetylated histone H3 and H4 antibodies showed a discontinuous pattern of histone H3 and H4 acetylation upstream of these sites. Our data suggest that the chromatin architecture specialized by CTCF and the nuclear matrix contribute to the distinct pattern of transcriptional regulation of these genes.
AB - Ad4BP/SF-1 is a nuclear receptor whose expression is restricted to tissues involved in steroid hormone synthesis such as the adrenal cortex and gonads. Recent sequence data analysis has shown that the Ad4BP/SF-1 gene is located only 13 kb downstream of the last exon of the neighboring GCNF gene that is expressed in some neurons and gonadal germ cells. Despite the close proximity of the two genes, regulatory elements from one do not interfere with the transcription of the neighboring gene, resulting in distinct expression patterns of Ad4BP/SF-1 and GCNF. This observation has led to the prediction that an insulator element must exist between the two loci to establish independent transcription units. We performed DNase I hypersensitivity assays on the adrenal cortex cell line, Y-1, to test for the existence of an insulator. Three hypersensitive sites were identified in the region spanning 2.1 kb between the last exon of GCNF and the first exon of Ad4BP/SF-1. The most upstream site contains a binding site for CTCF, a known insulator protein, while the other sites are predicted to associate with the nuclear matrix. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis using anti-acetylated histone H3 and H4 antibodies showed a discontinuous pattern of histone H3 and H4 acetylation upstream of these sites. Our data suggest that the chromatin architecture specialized by CTCF and the nuclear matrix contribute to the distinct pattern of transcriptional regulation of these genes.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.02.011
DO - 10.1016/j.bbrc.2005.02.011
M3 - Article
C2 - 15737622
AN - SCOPUS:14644398609
SN - 0006-291X
VL - 329
SP - 554
EP - 562
JO - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
JF - Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
IS - 2
ER -