Study of Spatial Organization of Chicken α-Globin Gene Domain by 3C Technique

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A. A. Gavrilov^1* and S. V. Razin^1,2

¹Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Vavilova 34/5, 119334 Moscow, Russia; fax: (499) 135-4105; E-mail: aleksey.gavrilov@mail.ru

²Biological Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991 Moscow, Russia

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received June 23, 2008; Revision received July 23, 2008

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This work deals with 3C (Chromosome Conformation Capture) analysis of the chicken α-globin gene domain in embryonic erythrocytes and lymphoid cells. Ligation products were quantitatively analyzed by real-time PCR with TaqMan probes. It was found that in lymphoid cells, where α-globin gene is not active, the domain has a relatively extended configuration. In embryonic erythrocytes that transcribe α^D and α^A genes, simultaneous interaction of several domain elements was revealed including the major regulatory element, the erythroid-specific DNase I hypersensitive site at a distance of 9 kb upstream from the α-globin gene cluster (-9 DHS), promoter of the housekeeping gene CGTHBA, the α^D-globin gene promoter, and the erythroid-specific enhancer located after the α-globin gene cluster. We suppose that such interaction is necessary to provide for the active transcription status of the chicken α-globin gene domains in erythroid cells.

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KEY WORDS: chicken α-globin gene domain, genome spatial organization, 3C, real-time PCR with TaqMan probes

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297908110047

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