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Transcription through the iab-7 cis-regulatory domain of the bithorax complex interferes with maintenance of Polycomb-mediated silencing

Department of Zoology and Animal Biology, University of Geneva, 30 quai E. Ansermet, 1211 Geneva-4, Switzerland

Author for correspondence: (e-mail: francois.karch{at}zoo.unige.ch)

Accepted 16 July 2002

The Fab-7 chromatin domain boundary insures functional autonomy of the iab-6 and iab-7 cis-regulatory domains in the bithorax complex (BX-C). We have previously shown that chromatin insulators such as gypsy or scs^min are potent insulators that cannot substitute for Fab-7 function within the BX-C. During the early stages of these swapping experiments, we initially used a fragment of scs that was slightly larger than a minimal scs element (scs^min). We report that this scs fragment, unlike scs^min, interferes in an orientation-dependent manner with the output of a regulatory region covering 80 kb of DNA (from iab-4 to iab-8). At the core of this orientation-dependent phenotype is a promoter located immediately adjacent to the scs insulator. In one orientation, the promoter traps the activity of the iab-3 through iab-5 cis-regulatory domains, diverting them from the abd-A gene. In the opposite orientation, the promoter is transcribing the iab-7 cis-regulatory domain, resulting in ectopic activation of the latter. Our data suggest that transcription through a Polycomb-Response Element (PRE) interferes with the maintenance of a Polycomb repression complex.

Key words: Boundary, Insulator, Scs, Fab-7, Bithorax complex, Polycomb, Transcription, Silencing, Drosophila

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