Final answer:
Insulators increase transcription rates by binding to proteins that adjust enhancer positions, ensuring they bolster transcription at appropriate gene promoters while avoiding non-target genes.
Step-by-step explanation:
Insulators primarily function to increase transcription rates by binding to proteins that move enhancers away from non-target gene promoters. These specific proteins are crucial in ensuring that enhancers enhance transcription at the correct site by preventing them from affecting non-target gene promoters.
Enhancers are sequences in DNA that can greatly increase the efficiency of transcription of a gene. They act by binding transcription factors, which in turn interact with the general transcription machinery at the promoter, facilitating RNA polymerase binding. Enhancers are capable of functioning at a considerable distance from the promoter due to DNA bending, which brings the enhancer in physical proximity to the promoter.
The role of insulators is to prevent this interaction between enhancers and non-target promoters. They do this by interacting with proteins that keep the enhancers near the correct promoter, increasing transcription rates as a result of their proper selective action.