Silencing: the establishment and inheritance of stable, repressed transcription states.
Silencing refers to a particular type of transcriptional repression characterized by the formation of a genetically heritable, repressed transcriptional state. Examples of silencing include position-effect variegation, X-chromosome inactivation, and the repression of the silent mating-type gene loci in yeast. Recent discoveries suggest that silencing in yeast, like silencing in larger eukaryotes, results from a particular chromatin structure that defines a chromosomal domain. In addition, a chromosomal origin of DNA replication is required for silencing in yeast, suggesting that DNA replication plays a role in forming functional chromosomal domains.
Rivier
D H
DH
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720.
Rine
J
J
D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000502:physiology; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*
D002843:Chromatin; D012097:Repressor Proteins