0.2 Eukaryotic genetics  (Page 4/9)

Transcription factors represent only a small fraction of the proteins in a cell. Link to a discussion of how they can nonetheless be isolated and purified.

Hormones exert many of their effects by forming transcription factors.

The complexes of hormones with their receptor represent one class of transcription factor. Hormone "response elements", to which the complex binds, are promoter sites. Link to a discussion of these.

Embryonic development requires the coordinated production and distribution of transcription factors.

Link to a discussion of some of the transcription factors that produce the segmented body plan in Drosophila.

Enhancers

Enhancers can be located upstream, downstream, or even within the gene they control.

How does the binding of a protein to an enhancer regulate the transcription of a gene thousands of base pairs away?

One possibility is that enhancer-binding proteins — in addition to their DNA-binding site, have sites that bind to transcription factors ("TF") assembled at the promoter of the gene.

This would draw the DNA into a loop (as shown in the figure).

Visual evidence

• several (4) promoter sites for Sp1 about 300 bases from one end. Sp1 is a zinc-finger transcription factor that binds to the sequence 5' GGGCGG 3' found in the promoters of many genes, especially "housekeeping" genes.
• several (5) enhancer sites about 800 bases from the other end. These are bound by an enhancer-binding protein designated E2.
• 1860 base pairs of DNA between the two.

When these DNA molecules were added to a mixture of Sp1 and E2, the electron microscope showed that the DNA was drawn into loops with "tails" of approximately 300 and 800 base pairs.

At the neck of each loop were two distinguishable globs of material, one representing Sp1 (red), the other E2 (blue) molecules. (The two micrographs are identical; the lower one has been labeled to show the interpretation.)

Artificial DNA molecules lacking either the promoter sites or the enhancer sites, or with mutated versions of them, failed to form loops when mixed with the two proteins.

Silencers

Insulators

A problem:

As you can see above , enhancers can turn on promoters of genes located thousands of base pairs away. What is to prevent an enhancer from inappropriately binding to and activating the promoter of some other gene in the same region of the chromosome?

One answer: an insulator.

Insulators are:

• stretches of DNA (as few as 42 base pairs may do the trick)
• located between the
  • enhancer(s) and promoter or
  • silencer(s) and promoter of adjacent genes or clusters of adjacent genes.