Adult stage γ-globin silencing is mediated by a promoter direct repeat element

The human beta-like globin genes (5'-epsilon-G gamma-A gamma-delta-beta-3') are temporally expressed in sequential order from the 5' to 3' end of the locus, but the nonadult epsilon- and gamma-globin genes are autonomously silenced in adult erythroid cells. Two cis elements have been proposed to regulate definitive erythroid T-globin repression: the DR (direct repeat) and CCTTG elements. Since these two elements partially overlap, and since a well-characterized HPFH point mutation maps to an overlapping nucleotide, it is not clear if both or only one of the two participate in gamma-globin silencing. To evaluate the contribution of these hypothetical silencers to gamma-globin regulation, we generated point mutations that individually disrupted either the single DR or all four CCTTG elements. These two were separately incorporated into human beta-globin yeast artificial chromosomes, which were then used to generate gamma-globin mutant transgenic mice. While DR element mutation led to a dramatic increase in Ay-globin expression only during definitive erythropoiesis, the CCTTG mutation did not affect adult stage transcription. These results demonstrate that the DR sequence element autonomously mediates definitive stage-specific gamma-globin gene silencing.