A boundary-defining protein facilitates megabase-scale regulatory chromosomal loop formation in <i>Drosophila</i> neurons.

ABSTRACT: Regulatory elements, such as enhancers and silencers, control transcription by establishing physical proximity to target gene promoters. Neurons in flies and mammals exhibit long-range three-dimensional genome contacts, proposed to connect genes with distal regulatory elements. However, the relevance of these contacts for neuronal gene transcription and the mechanisms underlying their specificity necessitate further investigation. Here, we precisely disrupt several long-range contacts in fly neurons, demonstrating their importance for megabase-range gene regulation and uncovering a hierarchical process in their formation. We further reveal an essential role for the chromosomal boundary-forming protein Cp190 in anchoring many long-range contacts, highlighting a mechanistic interplay between

SUBMITTER: Mouginot M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12128864 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature