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Domains and Boundaries in Chromosomes

  • Chapter
Book cover Genomic Imprinting

Part of the book series: Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation ((RESULTS,volume 25))

Abstract

Current models to explain regulatory mechanisms underlying eukaryotic gene expression rely heavily on ideas derived from prokaryotic systems. These models assume that transcriptional enhancers account for the temporal and spatial specificity of eukaryotic gene expression by serving as binding sites for transcription factors that can then activate transcription by looping out intervening sequences and contacting components of the promoter-bound transcription complex (see, for example, Thompson and McKnight 1992; Franklin, Chap. 8, this vol.); but many phenomena, observed in a variety of systems, suggest that this picture is too simplistic to realistically explain the complexity of the eukaryotic genome and the variety of patterns of gene expression that are required for proper development of higher eukaryotes. DNA in the eukaryotic nucleus wraps around histone complexes to form nucleosomes, and the resulting primary chromatin fiber is organized into higher-order domains that arise from further compaction and attachment to specific subnuclear structures. This complex organization of the DNA within the nucleus would appear to preclude the type of interactions necessary to activate transcription, which require contacts among proteins bound to enhancers and promoters. Some of the regulatory input that controls eukaryotic gene expression must thus be directed to the establishment and maintenance of this higher-order domain organization, and transcriptional activation might involve the alteration of this organization in a manner that permits enhancer-promoter interactions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, The Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA

    Tatiana I. Gerasimova & Victor G. Corces

Authors
  1. Tatiana I. Gerasimova
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  2. Victor G. Corces
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Animal Development and Genetics, University of Uppsala, Norbyvägen 18 A, 75236, Uppsala, Sweden

    Rolf Ohlsson

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© 1999 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Gerasimova, T.I., Corces, V.G. (1999). Domains and Boundaries in Chromosomes. In: Ohlsson, R. (eds) Genomic Imprinting. Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation, vol 25. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69111-2_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69111-2_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-21956-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69111-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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