Sentences with phrase «switch gene activity»

The tag H3K27me3 (shown in green), can switch gene activity off.

Not exact matches

Because the prion - forming protein identified in the study normally functions as a regulator of gene activity, the researchers say their discovery raises the possibility that when it switches to a prion state, it could alter genetic expression and bacterial behavior.

Because mice lacking both genes would not be born alive, the scientists followed up this lead by making «conditional knockout mice,» in which Esrp1 and Esrp2 activity was normal early in fetal development, but then was switched off in skin epithelial cells.

And the switches can either increase or decrease the activity of the genes they regulate.

Within the duplicate regions, Carmona - Mora and her colleagues discovered many switches, known as enhancers, important for controlling activity of genes.

Far from being junk, it's where molecular switches that help control gene activity are located.

Epigenetic «switches» turn gene activity up or down.

The switches that control gene activity are located here.

The pair of studies bring renewed focus to the epigenetics of T cells — the multilayered system of molecular switches, accelerators, and throttles that controls the activity of genes.

«The movement of genes within the nucleus, captured here using live imaging, seems to play a role in switching their activity on and off,» said first author Dr Stefanie Rosa from the John Innes Centre.

The researchers engineered a strain in which a Synechococcus gene normally turned on during photosynthesis signals its activity by switching on the gene for luciferase, an enzyme from another bacterium that drives a light - emitting chemical reaction.

The advances even point to strategies for exploiting these regulatory elements to treat disease, by switching off disease genes and turning up the activity of healthy ones.

The project uncovered 4 million spots in our DNA that act as switches controlling gene activity.

The open portions of the genome include genes themselves, as well as many regions that contribute to the regulation of their activities (the switches).

To start, the scientists examined previous experiments and identified several transcription factors — managerial proteins that switch on the activity of large sets of genes — that seemed crucial to the ability of immature neurons to develop into adult sensory neurons.

DNA methylation is an epigenetic process in which small molecules — methyl groups - are added to genes and fine - tune the gene's activity, like a dimmer switch.

The alteration of gene activity, called epigenetics, might result from modification of RNA molecules that interact with genes; a modification of the packaging that carries DNA; molecular switches attached directly to the DNA itself; or even something to do with the cell's power - stations, the mitochondria, Baugh said.

MYCN and its kin are «transcription factors,» proteins that bind to DNA and influence the rate at which genetic information is used by the cell — essentially serving as brightener / dimmer switches for gene activity.

They found three DNA deletions in the genetic switch that controls the activity of the Sonic hedgehog gene.

Situated in front of the gene, this switch, called an enhancer, is a docking site for proteins that control the gene's activity.

Specifically, they analyzed the tumors» epigenome, an array of molecules that covers the surface of DNA and helps regulate gene activity, acting like a control switch to decide which genes are active or inactive in the cell.

A mutation in a switched - off gene's switch region might restore that gene's activity.

The researchers believe noise could play a role, so they combine single - molecule analysis with time - lapse movies of individual cells to track random activity in many different genes as the cells switch states.

The operator is a segment of DNA that regulates the activity of the structural genes of the operon, somewhat like an on / off switch.

Single - cell experiments show that gene expression is random and «bursty,» Lin said, a feature that can emerge from slow switching between promoter states with different activities.

«Our study also highlights that growth of normal cells and cancer cells is driven by different gene switches, suggesting that further work to find ways to control the activity of such disease - specific switches could lead to novel, highly specific approaches for therapeutic intervention», says Professor Jussi Taipale, who led the study.

Instead, most are gene enhancers, which act like a dimmer switch for a lightbulb, turning gene activity up or down.

This confirmed that the gene regulatory switch is highly specific to one cell type, monocytes and that tumor cell invasion in the absence of this population had nothing to do with deregulated macrophage activity.