Quantitative approaches to problems of eukaryotic gene expression.
During the past several years there has been intense interest in the mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated within the eukaryotic nucleus. We have made use of an avian beta-globin locus to study various aspects of this problem, some of which are amenable to quantitative analysis. In the course of this work we have identified the transcription factor GATA-1, which is an essential regulatory factor for virtually all erythroid-specific genes, and studied the structure of its complex with its specific DNA binding site. The way in which GATA-1 forms tight interactions with DNA led to an understanding of how other zinc finger proteins of this class bind to DNA. We have extended such studies to examine interactions with DNA packaged as chromatin, and to studies of chromatin structure and function at higher levels of organization.
Felsenfeld
Gary
G
Laboratory of Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-0540, USA. gary.felsenfeld@nih.gov
D000818:Animals; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation