Monfils Kathryn, Barakat Tahsin Stefan
Department of Clinical Genetics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Genetics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, PO Box 2040, 3000 CA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Eur J Cell Biol. 2021 Jun-Aug;100(5-6):151170. doi: 10.1016/j.ejcb.2021.151170. Epub 2021 Jul 7.
Enhancers and promoters are transcriptional regulatory elements whose facilitated interactions increase gene expression. Enhancer DNA sequences can be located far away from the promoter sequences that they regulate. Currently, the mechanism facilitating the establishment of enhancer-promoter interactions remains unclear. However, mutations causing errors in these interactions have been linked to cancer and disease, further conveying the need to understand the full mechanism. This review discusses multiple models that have been proposed to describe how enhancers go the distance to interact with promoters. Evidence supporting loop formation models is reviewed in addition to more complex hypotheses involving aspects of 3D chromatin organization and phase separation.
增强子和启动子是转录调控元件，它们之间的相互作用促进基因表达。增强子DNA序列可位于远离其调控的启动子序列的位置。目前，促进增强子与启动子相互作用建立的机制尚不清楚。然而，这些相互作用中导致错误的突变已与癌症和疾病相关联，这进一步表明有必要了解完整的机制。本综述讨论了多种已被提出的模型，这些模型描述了增强子如何远距离与启动子相互作用。除了涉及三维染色质组织和相分离等方面的更复杂假设外，还综述了支持环形成模型的证据。
