Minimal synthetic enhancers reveal control of the probability of transcriptional engagement and its timing by a morphogen gradient.

ABSTRACT: How enhancers interpret morphogen gradients to generate gene expression patterns is a central question in developmental biology. Recent studies have proposed that enhancers can dictate whether, when, and at what rate promoters engage in transcription, but the complexity of endogenous enhancers calls for theoretical models with too many free parameters to quantitatively dissect these regulatory strategies. To overcome this limitation, we established a minimal promoter-proximal synthetic enhancer in embryos of Drosophila melanogaster. Here, a gradient of the Dorsal activator is read by a single Dorsal DNA binding site. Using live imaging to quantify transcriptional activity, we found that a single binding site can regulate whether promoters engage in transcription in a concentration-dependen

SUBMITTER: Alamos S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10125799 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature