Related topics: stem cells
Transcription factor
hideIn the field of molecular biology, a transcription factor (sometimes called a sequence-specific DNA binding factor) is a protein that binds to specific DNA sequences and thereby controls the transfer (or transcription) of genetic information from DNA to mRNA. Transcription factors perform this function alone or with other proteins in a complex, by promoting (as an activator), or blocking (as a repressor) the recruitment of RNA polymerase (the enzyme which performs the transcription of genetic information from DNA to RNA) to specific genes.
A defining feature of transcription factors is that they contain one or more DNA binding domains (DBDs) which attach to specific sequences of DNA adjacent to the genes that they regulate. Additional proteins such as coactivators, chromatin remodelers, histone acetylases, deacetylases, kinases, and methylases, while also playing crucial roles in gene regulation, lack DNA binding domains, and therefore are not classified as transcription factors.
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News tagged with transcription factors
Researchers revise long-held theory of fruit-fly development
Dec 17, 2009 |
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For decades, science texts have told a simple and straightforward story about a particular protein—a transcription factor—that helps the embryo of the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, pattern tissues in a m ...
Marking of tissue-specific crucial in embryonic stem cells to ensure proper function
Dec 16, 2009 |
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Tissue-specific genes, thought to be dormant or not marked for activation in embryonic stem cells, are indeed marked by transcription factors, with proper marking potentially crucial for the function of tissues derived from ...
Transcription factors guide differences in human and chimp brain function
Dec 07, 2009 |
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Humans share at least 97 percent of their genes with chimpanzees, but, as a new study of transcription factors makes clear, what you have in your genome may be less important than how you use it.
Potential new 'twist' in breast cancer detection
Dec 04, 2009 |
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Working with mice, scientists at Johns Hopkins publishing in the December issue of Neoplasia have shown that a protein made by a gene called "Twist" may be the proverbial red flag that can accurately distinguish stem cells ...
Antagonistic genes control rice growth
Dec 15, 2009 |
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Scientists at the Carnegie Institution, with colleagues, have found that a plant steroid prompts two genes to battle each other—one suppresses the other to ensure that leaves grow normally in rice and the ...
Researchers identify gene that spurs deadly brain cancer
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers have identified a new factor that is necessary for the development of many forms of medulloblastoma, the most common type of malignant childhood brain cancer.
New source discovered for the generation of nerve cells in the brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 01, 2009 |
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The research group of Professor Magdalena Gotz of Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich (Germany) has made a significant advance in understanding regeneration processes in the brain. The researchers ...
Extended youthfulness as a prevention for Alzheimer's disease
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Therapies that can keep us younger longer might also push back the clock on Alzheimer's disease, suggests a new study of mice in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication.
