Calhoun Vincent C, Levine Michael
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Division of Genetics and Development, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Cell. 2003 May 2;113(3):278-80. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(03)00309-x.
Spitz et al (2003[this issue of Cell]) describe the properties of a novel cis-regulatory DNA element, the global control region (GCR), which regulates gene expression over distances of several hundred kilobases at the mouse HoxD complex. The GCR provides an explanation for the colinear genetic linkage and expression of individual Hox genes within developing limbs.