Enhancers, enhancers – from their discovery to today’s universe of transcription enhancers
Open accessAbstract
Transcriptional enhancers are short (200–1500 base pairs) DNA segments that are able to dramatically boost transcription from the promoter of a target gene. Originally discovered in simian virus 40 (SV40), a small DNA virus, transcription enhancers were soon also found in immunoglobulin genes and other cellular genes as key determinants of cell-type-specific gene expression. Enhancers can exert their effect over long distances of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of base pairs, either from upstream, downstream, or from within a transcription unit. The number of enhancers in eukaryotic genomes correlates with the complexity of the organism; a typical mammalian gene is likely controlled by several enhancers to fine-tune its expression at different developmental stages, in different cell types and in response to different signaling cues. Here, I provide a personal account of how enhancers were discovered more than 30 years ago, and also address the amazing development of the field since then.
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Enhancers inserted in forward or reverse orientations generated equivalent transcription levels.
“Consistent with the classical notion derived from reporter assays that enhancer activity is independent of genomic orientation31, enhancers inserted in forward or reverse orientations generated equivalent transcription levels (Fig. 1i).”
From Nonlinear control of transcription through enhancer–promoter interactions (2022) · cites this paper as [31]
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Nonlinear control of transcription through enhancer–promoter interactions
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Transcriptional enhancers and their communication with gene promoters
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Nonlinear control of transcription through enhancer-promoter interactions
Zuin, J., Roth, G., Zhan, Y., Cramard, J., Redolfi, J., Piskadlo, E., Mach, P., Kryzhanovska, M., Tihanyi, G., Kohler, H., et al. (2021) · doi:10.1101/2021.04.22.440891 · Cited by 67 · see citing works
Enhancer Function in the 3D Genome
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- Authors
- Schaffner, W.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Schaffner, Walter
- Venue
- Biological Chemistry
- Publisher
- Walter de Gruyter GmbH
- Published
- 2015-04-01
- Volume
- 396
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 311-327
- ISSN
- 1431-6730 (ISSN-L)
- 1437-4315
- OpenAlex
- W1973796285
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 0.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Biological Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- Kanton Zürich
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Chromosomal and Genetic Variations
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
- Keywords
- enhancers, simian virus 40, immunoglobulin genes, cell type-specific gene expression, developmental gene regulation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, DNA, Enhancer Elements, Genetic, Humans, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Simian virus 40, Transcriptional Activation, Epigenesis, Genetic
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