"Gene enhancers" refers to specific sections of DNA that can increase the activity of certain genes. They act like switches that regulate when and how much a gene is expressed or 'turned on.' They help in controlling cell development, growth, and function.
Full definition
Diane Dickel is the lead author of Nature Methods paper describing a new technique for identifying
gene enhancers in the genomes of humans and other mammals.
Berkeley Lab's Len Pennacchio (left) and Axel Visel led the development of a new technique for
identifying gene enhancers called SIF - seq, for site - specific integration fluorescence - activated cell sorting followed by sequencing.
In the PNAS paper, the scientists demonstrated their method on two genomics problems, the role
of gene enhancers in the fruit fly embryo and alternative splicing in a human - derived cell line.
With the increasing awareness of the important role that
gene enhancers play in normal cell development as well as in disease, there is strong scientific interest in identifying and characterizing these enhancers.
Enhancer Element Locator, or EEL, is a tool for locating
distal gene enhancer elements in mammalian genomes by comparative genomics.
An epigenetic factor
reprograms gene enhancers, enabling cancer cells to «remember» an earlier developmental state and causing metastasis.
An international team led by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has developed a new technique for
identifying gene enhancers — sequences of DNA that act to amplify the expression of a specific gene — in the genomes of humans and other mammals.
Dissection and function of autoimmunity - associated TNFAIP3 (A20)
gene enhancers in humanized mouse models.
The researchers don't yet know all of
the genes the enhancers may control.
They combined innovative stem cell technology with a new screening method that can test thousands of DNA segments at once to see whether or not they are
gene enhancers.
Instead, most are
gene enhancers, which act like a dimmer switch for a lightbulb, turning gene activity up or down.
Cell activity patterns of two
gene enhancers (red and green cells).