A functional overlap between actively transcribed genes and chromatin insulator elements - PubMed
5 hours ago
- #genome organization
- #gene regulation
- #chromatin insulators
- The mammalian genome is organized into topologically associating domains (TADs) and sub-TADs, which help regulate gene expression.
- Cohesin-mediated loop extrusion, delimited by insulator elements like CTCF, plays a key role in forming these structures.
- In the alpha-globin locus, actively transcribed genes, not CTCF insulators, define the downstream boundary of sub-TADs.
- Inserting actively transcribed alpha-globin fragments between enhancers and native genes reduces native gene expression and causes cohesin accumulation at the insertion site.
- This study highlights a functional overlap between actively transcribed genes and chromatin insulator elements in genome organization.