'Modular' super-enhancers control retinal development

An enhancer is a region of DNA that does not code for proteins, but controls how genes are expressed

Gene expression is important during cell development as cells establish their own identities and become various cell types with different functions

For decades, researchers have been studying Vsx2 to understand how it affects development

"During brain development, transcription factors like vx2 and many other important transcription factors are often expressed in a precisely coordinated manner in different parts of the developing brain at different times," said corresponding author Michael Dyer, PhD, of St.

Testing the first modular super booster

A hyper-enhancer of vx2 controls complex dynamic expression patterns during retinal

"While thousands of super-enhancers have been computationally identified, very few functional tests have been performed

"We call it a modular super-enhancer," Honnell said

The scientists discovered four distinct regions in the vx2 super-enhancer

A blueprint for future research

Studying modular super-enhancers provides a clearer picture of the functional impact of gene expression than traditional genomic approaches such as knocking out genes

"When you can fully understand how these modular super-enhancers work, you can have a comprehensive understanding of all super-enhancers under one framework and thus a broader understanding of them," Dyer said

article title

Identification of a modular super-enhancer in murine retinal development