Phenotypic robustness conferred by apparently redundant transcriptional enhancers.

ABSTRACT: Genes include cis-regulatory regions that contain transcriptional enhancers. Recent reports have shown that developmental genes often possess multiple discrete enhancer modules that drive transcription in similar spatio-temporal patterns: primary enhancers located near the basal promoter and secondary, or 'shadow', enhancers located at more remote positions. It has been proposed that the seemingly redundant activity of primary and secondary enhancers contributes to phenotypic robustness. We tested this hypothesis by generating a deficiency that removes two newly discovered enhancers of shavenbaby (svb, a transcript of the ovo locus), a gene encoding a transcription factor that directs development of Drosophila larval trichomes. At optimal temperatures for embryonic development, this defici

SUBMITTER: Frankel N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2909378 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature