Chromatin insulators: linking genome organization to cellular function.

A growing body of evidence suggests that insulators have a primary role in orchestrating the topological arrangement of higher-order chromatin architecture. Insulator-mediated long-range interactions can influence the epigenetic status of the genome and, in certain contexts, may have important effects on gene expression. Here we discuss higher-order chromatin organization as a unifying mechanism for diverse insulator actions across the genome.