Unexpected stability and complexity in transcriptional enhancers' interactions
Thursday, July 3, 2014 - 11:01
in Biology & Nature
Contrary to what was thought, sequences of DNA called enhancers – which control a gene's output – find their targets long before they are activated during embryonic development, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have found. Their study, published online today in Nature, also reveals that, surprisingly, the degree of complexity of enhancers' interactions in the 'simple' fruit fly Drosophila is comparable to what is seen in vertebrates.