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Silencers and locus control regions: opposite sides of the same coin
1Laboratory of Molecular Embryology, NICHD, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Trends in Biochemical Sciences
|April 1, 1997
Abstract:
Whether or not genes are in an active or a repressed state in a cell depends on the relative effect of gene silencers and locus control regions (LCRs). Here, we suggest that these elements act as binary switches; the state that prevails (activated or repressed) probably depends on a competition between protein complex formation and the stability of the complexes formed at either of the two elements.