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Distant liaisons: long-range enhancer-promoter interactions in Drosophila
1Molecular Biology Program Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York 10021, USA. d-dorsett@ski.mskcc.org.
Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
|October 6, 1999
Summary
Facilitator factors may bring distant enhancers and promoters together, explaining long-range gene activation. This mechanism is supported by experiments in Drosophila involving insulators and specific mutants.
Area of Science:
- * Molecular Biology
- * Developmental Genetics
Background:
- * Transcriptional activation of developmentally regulated genes often involves enhancers distant from promoters.
- * Current models inadequately explain how these long-range enhancer-promoter interactions occur.
Purpose of the Study:
- * To investigate the mechanisms underlying long-range transcriptional activation.
- * To reconcile experimental observations with existing models of gene regulation.
Main Methods:
- * Analysis of Drosophila experiments concerning gene regulation.
- * Examination of insulator functions in blocking enhancer-promoter interactions.
- * Study of interchromosomal gene activation and mutants deficient in long-range activation.
Main Results:
- * Experimental data from Drosophila are consistent with a model involving facilitator factors.
- * These factors appear to mediate physical proximity between enhancers and promoters.
- * Insulators and specific mutants provide evidence for this interaction model.
Conclusions:
- * Facilitator factors are proposed to play a crucial role in long-range transcriptional activation.
- * Bringing enhancers and promoters into physical proximity is a key function of these factors.
- * This model offers a more comprehensive explanation for observed gene regulation phenomena.