Enhancer Control of Transcriptional Bursting

Takashi Fukaya, Bomyi Lim, Michael Levine

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

467 Scopus citations

Abstract

Transcription is episodic, consisting of a series of discontinuous bursts. Using live-imaging methods and quantitative analysis, we examine transcriptional bursting in living Drosophila embryos. Different developmental enhancers positioned downstream of synthetic reporter genes produce transcriptional bursts with similar amplitudes and duration but generate very different bursting frequencies, with strong enhancers producing more bursts than weak enhancers. Insertion of an insulator reduces the number of bursts and the corresponding level of gene expression, suggesting that enhancer regulation of bursting frequency is a key parameter of gene control in development. We also show that linked reporter genes exhibit coordinated bursting profiles when regulated by a shared enhancer, challenging conventional models of enhancer-promoter looping.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)358-368
Number of pages11
JournalCell
Volume166
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 14 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

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