Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 10, 2026
10:28
Repressing Gene Transcription by Redirecting Cellular Machinery with Chemical Epigenetic Modifiers
Published on: September 20, 2018
Biological control through regulated transcriptional coactivators
Bruce M Spiegelman1, Reinhart Heinrich
1Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA. bruce_speigelman@dfci.harvard.edu
Cell
|October 14, 2004
Summary
Gene activation relies on transcription factors and coactivators. Controlling coactivator expression is crucial for diverse biological programs and offers therapeutic potential.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Gene Regulation
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Gene activation in eukaryotes involves transcription factors and coactivator proteins.
- Coactivators function in multiprotein complexes that modify chromatin for transcription.
- Gene control is significantly influenced by coactivator expression, impacting various biological pathways.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the importance of coactivator expression in gene regulation.
- To explore the role of coactivators in integrating transcription factors and forming biological programs.
- To discuss the kinetic implications of coactivator control and therapeutic potential.
Main Methods:
- Literature review and synthesis of existing research on gene activation and coactivator function.
- Analysis of pathways involving coactivators, such as B-cell development and gluconeogenesis.
- Examination of the kinetic aspects of coactivator-mediated gene control.
Main Results:
- Coactivator expression is a key regulatory point in gene control, alongside transcription factors.
- Quantitative control of coactivators integrates multiple transcription factors for distinct biological outcomes.
- Coactivator-driven pathway coordination offers significant kinetic advantages, amplifying pathway outputs.
Conclusions:
- Coactivator expression plays a substantial role in biological control and the formation of complex programs.
- The kinetic properties of coactivator-mediated gene regulation are critical for pathway efficiency.
- Coactivators represent promising targets for therapeutic intervention due to their regulatory roles.
More Related Videos
08:54In vivo Application of the REMOTE-control System for the Manipulation of Endogenous Gene Expression
Published on: March 29, 2019
13:47Lentiviral Vector Platform for the Efficient Delivery of Epigenome-editing Tools into Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Disease Models
Published on: March 29, 2019
Related Concept Videos
02:36RNA Polymerase II Accessory Proteins
Proteins that regulate transcription can do so either via direct contact with RNA Polymerase or through indirect interactions facilitated by adaptors, mediators, histone-modifying proteins, and nucleosome remodelers. Direct interactions to activate transcription is seen in bacteria as well as in some eukaryotic genes. In these cases, upstream activation sequences are adjacent to the promoters, and the activator proteins interact directly with the transcriptional machinery. For example, in...
02:13Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators
Transcriptional regulators bind to specific cis-regulatory sequences in the DNA to regulate gene transcription. These cis-regulatory sequences are very short, usually less than ten nucleotide pairs in length. The short length means that there is a high probability of the exact same sequence randomly occurring throughout the genome. Since regulators can also bind to groups of similar sequences, this further increases the chances of random binding. Transcriptional regulators form dimers that...
02:04Co-activators and Co-repressors
Gene transcription is regulated by the synergistic action of several proteins that form a complex at a gene regulatory site. This is observed in eukaryotes, where the regulation of gene expression is a complex process. Regulatory proteins in eukaryotes can broadly be classified into two types – regulators that bind directly to specific DNA sequences and co-regulators that associate with regulatory proteins but cannot directly bind to the DNA. These co-regulators are further divided into...
02:33Combinatorial Gene Control
Combinatorial gene control is the synergistic action of several transcriptional factors to regulate the expression of a single gene. The absence of one or more of these factors may lead to a significant difference in the level of gene expression or repression.
The expression of more than 30,000 genes is controlled by approximately 2000-3000 transcription factors. This is possible because a single transcription factor can recognize more than one regulatory sequence. The specificity in gene...
The expression of more than 30,000 genes is controlled by approximately 2000-3000 transcription factors. This is possible because a single transcription factor can recognize more than one regulatory sequence. The specificity in gene...
02:13Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators
Transcriptional regulators bind to specific cis-regulatory sequences in the DNA to regulate gene transcription. These cis-regulatory sequences are very short, usually less than ten nucleotide pairs in length. The short length means that there is a high probability of the exact same sequence randomly occurring throughout the genome. Since regulators can also bind to groups of similar sequences, this further increases the chances of random binding. Transcriptional regulators form dimers that...
02:04Co-activators and Co-repressors
Gene transcription is regulated by the synergistic action of several proteins that form a complex at a gene regulatory site. This is observed in eukaryotes, where the regulation of gene expression is a complex process. Regulatory proteins in eukaryotes can broadly be classified into two types – regulators that bind directly to specific DNA sequences and co-regulators that associate with regulatory proteins but cannot directly bind to the DNA. These co-regulators are further divided into...