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World J Biol Chem. Aug 26, 2016; 7(3): 223-230
Published online Aug 26, 2016. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v7.i3.223
Chromatin boundary elements organize genomic architecture and developmental gene regulation in Drosophila Hox clusters
Zhibo Ma, Mo Li, Sharmila Roy, Kevin J Liu, Matthew L Romine, Derrick C Lane, Sapna K Patel, Haini N Cai
Zhibo Ma, Mo Li, Sharmila Roy, Kevin J Liu, Matthew L Romine, Derrick C Lane, Sapna K Patel, Haini N Cai, Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, United States
Author contributions: Ma Z, Li M, Roy S, Liu KJ, Lane DC and Patel SK contributed to the generation and analysis of the data summarized in the manuscript; Ma Z, Romine ML and Cai HN contributed to preparation of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any authors.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Haini N Cai, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Cellular Biology, University of Georgia, 1000 Cedar Street, Athens, GA 30602, United States. hcai@uga.edu
Telephone: +1-706-5423329 Fax: +1-706-5424237
Received: February 27, 2016
Peer-review started: February 27, 2016
First decision: March 24, 2016
Revised: April 19, 2016
Accepted: July 11, 2016
Article in press: July 13, 2016
Published online: August 26, 2016
Core Tip

Core tip: Genomic organization in higher eukaryotes needs to fulfill at least three distinct functions: Gene compaction, gene insulation and gene regulation. Chromatin loops appear to be a common structural unit that serves all these functions. A recent study has characterized a series of chromatin boundary elements (CBEs) in the Drosophila Hox cluster. Selective and dynamic interactions between these CBEs tether chromatin loops that not only insulate neighboring genes, but also organize enhancer traffic to regulate gene expression during development.