Detailed measurements in living cells challenges classic model for gene regulation
Tuesday, February 25, 2014 - 06:31
in Biology & Nature
In all living organisms, genes are regulated by proteins called transcription factors. The established model states that a gene is switched off as long as a repressing transcription factor is bound to the DNA. For the first time ever, researchers have been able to study the process in living cells, showing that it may be more complex than previously thought. It is at present unclear how the finding generalizes to other genes and organisms, but the fact that the researchers find interesting deviations in the first system they look at implies that it is not unlikely that it is important in many cases.