Whats driving specific patterns of gene expression among cell types?
Providing another tool to help to understand gene regulation on a global scale, a nationwide research team has identified and mapped 55,000 enhancers, short regions of DNA that act to enhance or boost the expression of genes. The map, which will be published March 18 in the advance on-line edition of the journal Nature, will help scientists understand how cells control expression of genes specific to their particular cell type. “Our studies show that enhancers play much more prominent role than previously appreciated in cell-type-specific gene expression, helping to explain what causes cells to differentiate into liver or brain or skin cells, or why these cells might become cancerous,” said principal investigator Bing Ren, PhD, associate professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and head of the Laboratory of Gene Regulation at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR). Nearly all cells in the human body have the exa
