title: Secondary structure and intron-promoter homology in globin-switching.
abstract: An extensive stem-loop structure was found in the A gamma-globin promoter region. Intron transcripts from epsilon-globin, A gamma-globin, delta-globin, and beta-globin were complementary to the loop sequence. A model for globin-switching based upon changes in DNA secondary structure and intron transcript pairing was proposed. Pairing of the epsilon intron transcript with the anti-sense strand was postulated to result in up-regulation whereas pairing of the sense strand with the intron transcripts from A gamma-globin, delta-globin, and beta-globin was postulated to result in down-regulation. The model is consistent with known hemoglobin disorders and can be extended to account for any series of genes that are turned on and off as development proceeds.
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009876:Operon
chemical_list: D006454:Hemoglobins; D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA; D005319:Fetal Hemoglobin