{"title":"Is Enhancer Function Driven by Protein-Protein Interactions? From Bacteria to Leukemia.","authors":"Nicholas T Crump, Thomas A Milne","doi":"10.1002/bies.70006","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The precise regulation of the transcription of genes is essential for normal development and for the maintenance of life. Aberrant gene expression changes drive many human diseases. Despite this, we still do not completely understand how precise gene regulation is controlled in living systems. Enhancers are key regulatory elements that enable cells to specifically activate genes in response to environmental cues, or in a stage or tissue-specific manner. Any model of enhancer activity needs to answer two main questions: (1) how enhancers are able to identify and act on specific genes and (2) how enhancers influence transcription. To address these points, we first outline some of the basic principles that can be established from simpler prokaryotic systems, then discuss recent work on aberrant enhancer activity in leukemia. We argue that highly specific protein-protein interactions are a key driver of enhancer-promoter proximity, allowing enhancer-bound factors to directly act on RNA polymerase and activate transcription.</p>","PeriodicalId":9264,"journal":{"name":"BioEssays","volume":" ","pages":"e70006"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BioEssays","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.70006","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMISTRY & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The precise regulation of the transcription of genes is essential for normal development and for the maintenance of life. Aberrant gene expression changes drive many human diseases. Despite this, we still do not completely understand how precise gene regulation is controlled in living systems. Enhancers are key regulatory elements that enable cells to specifically activate genes in response to environmental cues, or in a stage or tissue-specific manner. Any model of enhancer activity needs to answer two main questions: (1) how enhancers are able to identify and act on specific genes and (2) how enhancers influence transcription. To address these points, we first outline some of the basic principles that can be established from simpler prokaryotic systems, then discuss recent work on aberrant enhancer activity in leukemia. We argue that highly specific protein-protein interactions are a key driver of enhancer-promoter proximity, allowing enhancer-bound factors to directly act on RNA polymerase and activate transcription.
期刊介绍：
molecular – cellular – biomedical – physiology – translational research – systems - hypotheses encouraged
BioEssays is a peer-reviewed, review-and-discussion journal. Our aims are to publish novel insights, forward-looking reviews and commentaries in contemporary biology with a molecular, genetic, cellular, or physiological dimension, and serve as a discussion forum for new ideas in these areas. An additional goal is to encourage transdisciplinarity and integrative biology in the context of organismal studies, systems approaches, through to ecosystems, where appropriate.
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