title: Functional and mechanistic diversity of distal transcription enhancers.
abstract: Biological differences among metazoans and between cell types in a given organism arise in large part due to differences in gene expression patterns. Gene-distal enhancers are key contributors to these expression patterns, exhibiting both sequence diversity and cell type specificity. Studies of long-range interactions indicate that enhancers are often important determinants of nuclear organization, contributing to a general model for enhancer function that involves direct enhancer-promoter contact. However, mechanisms for enhancer function are emerging that do not fit solely within such a model, suggesting that enhancers as a class of DNA regulatory element may be functionally and mechanistically diverse.
authors.affiliation: Center for Pediatric Biomedical Research, Department of Pediatrics, University of Rochester, NY 14627, USA. michael_bulger@urmc.rochester.edu
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bulger
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Groudine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D014157:Transcription Factors