Transcriptional 'silencer' element in rat repetitive sequences associated with the rat insulin 1 gene locus

The enhancer elements from either simian virus 40 or murine sarcoma virus activate the expression of a transfected rat insulin 1 (rI₁) gene when placed within 2.0 kilobases or less of the rI₁ gene cap site. Inclusion of 4.0 kilobases of upstream rI₁ sequence, however, results in a substantial reduction in the enhancer-dependent insulin gene expression. These observations suggested that a negative transcriptional regulatory element was present between 2.0 and 4.0 kilobases of the rI₁ sequence. To test this notion, we employed a heterologous enhancer-dependent transcription assay in which the simian virus 40 72-base-pair repeat is linked to a human β-globin gene. Addition of the upstream rI₁ element to this system decreased the level of enhancer-dependent β-globin transcription by a factor of 5 to 15. This rI₁ 'silencer' element functions in a manner relatively independent of position and orientation and requires a cis-dependent relationship to the transcription unit on which it acts. Thus, the silencer sequences seems to have a number of the characteristics of enhancer elements, and we suggest that it may function by the converse of the enhancer mechanism. The rI₁ silencer sequence was identified as a member of a long interspersed rat repetitive family. Thus, a potential role for certain repetitive sequences interspersed throughout the eukaryotic genome may be to regulate gene expression by retaining transcriptional activity within defined domains.