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
'Junk' DNA proves functional
Nov 04, 2008 |
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In a paper published in Genome Research on Nov. 4, scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) report that what was previously believed to be "junk" DNA is one of the important ingredients distinguishing humans ...
Researchers turn one form of adult mouse cell directly into another
Biology /
Aug 27, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- In a feat of biological prestidigitation likely to turn the field of regenerative medicine on its head, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) co-director Doug Melton and post doctoral fellow ...
Model unravels rules that govern how genes are switched on and off
Dec 04, 2008 |
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For years, scientists have struggled to decipher the genetic instruction book that details where and when the 20,000 genes in a human cell will be turned on or off. Different genes operate in each cell type at different times, ...
Formula discovered for longer plant life
Biology /
Sep 23, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Plants that grow more slowly stay fresh longer. In their study now published in PLoS Biology, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen have shown that certain ...
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 ...
'Fuzzy logic' reveals cells' inner workings
Apr 03, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Living cells are bombarded with messages from the outside world -- hormones and other chemicals tell them to grow, migrate, die or do nothing. Inside the cell, complex signaling networks interpret these cues ...
Researchers identify cancer-causing gene in many colon cancers
Sep 14, 2008 |
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Demonstrating that despite the large number of cancer-causing genes already identified, many more remain to be found, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have linked a previously unsuspected gene, CDK8, to colon cancer.
The indefinite self-renewal of specialized cells without the need for stem cell intermediates
Nov 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Is the indefinite expansion of adult cells possible without recourse to stem cell intermediates? The team led by Michael Sieweke at the Centre d'immunologie de Marseille Luminy, France has ...
Protein is linked to lung cancer development
Oct 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A protein that normally helps defend cells from infection can play a critical role in the development of lung cancer, according to MIT cancer biologists.
'Moonlighting' molecules discovered
Oct 29, 2009 |
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Since the completion of the human genome sequence, a question has baffled researchers studying gene control: How is it that humans, being far more complex than the lowly yeast, do not proportionally contain in our genome ...
Putting microRNAs on the stem cell map
Biology /
Aug 07, 2008 |
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Embryonic stem cells are always facing a choice—either to self-renew or begin morphing into another type of cell altogether. It's a tricky choice, governed by complex gene regulatory circuitry driven by a handful of key regulators ...
Scientists identify key factors in heart cell creation
Apr 26, 2009 |
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Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease have identified for the first time key genetic factors that drive the process of generating new heart cells. The discovery, reported in the current ...
Iron-binding drug could help diabetics heal stubborn wounds
Jul 27, 2009 |
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A drug used to remove iron from the body could help doctors fight one of diabetes' cruelest complications: poor wound healing, which can lead to amputation of patients' toes, feet and even legs.
Discovery of a mechanism controlling the fate of hematopoietic stem cells
Jul 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Hematopoietic stem cells are capable of manufacturing all types of blood cells. But which factors influence the production of a specific type of cell? Until now, it was thought that this was ...
Genetics of patterning the cerebral cortex
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 13, 2009 |
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The cerebral cortex, the largest and most complex component of the brain, is unique to mammals and alone has evolved human specializations. Although at first all stem cells in charge of building the cerebral ...
