The zinc-finger protein CLAMP promotes gypsy chromatin insulator function in Drosophila: ChIP-seq of CP190, Su(Hw), Mod(mdg4) for genome-wide overlap with CLAMP. Drosophila melanogaster

Chromatin insulators are DNA-protein complexes that establish higher order independent DNA domains to influence transcriptional regulation. Insulators are defined by two different functions: they can block communication between an enhancer and a promoter and also act as a barrier between heterochromatin and euchromatin. In Drosophila, the gypsy-insulator complex contains three core components: Su(Hw), CP190 and Mod(mdg4)67.2. Here we identify a novel role for Chromatin-linked adaptor for MSL proteins (CLAMP) in promoting gypsy chromatin insulator function. When Clamp is depleted by RNAi, gypsy-dependent enhancer blocking activity decreases and barrier activity is reduced in all tissues. Furthermore, Clamp RNAi knockdowns and mutation result in disorganized insulator complex localization in the nucleus. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that CLAMP physically associates with core gypsy-insulator proteins. Co-localization of CLAMP with gypsy components on polytene chromosomes and ChIP-seq analysis demonstrates co-localization of CLAMP with a subset of insulator sites across the genome. Thus, our findings suggest a ubiquitous, genome-wide role for CLAMP in promoting gypsy-dependent chromatin insulator activity. Overall design: Examination of overlapping of CLAMP with insulator proteins Su(Hw), CP190 and Mod(mdg4) genome wide in Kc167 embryonic cell lines.