A cis element in the recombination activating gene locus regulates gene expression by counteracting a distant silencer

作者：Yannoutsos N^*; Barreto V; Misulovin Z; Gazumyan A; Yu W; Rajewsky N; Peixoto BR; Eisenreich T; Nussenzweig MC

来源：Nature Immunology, 2004, 5(4): 443-450.

DOI：10.1038/ni1053

We have identified a silencer and an antisilencing element that interact at a distance of 85 kilobases to regulate expression of the recombination activating genes Rag1 and Rag2 in thymocytes. Transgenic experiments showed that Rag promoter-proximal cis elements directed tissue-specific expression and that a Runx-dependent intergenic silencer suppressed expression in developing T cells. Deletion of the antisilencing element from the genomic Rag locus unmasked the intergenic silencer and abrogated Rag expression in developing CD4(+) CD8(+) T cells. We speculate that the Rag antisilencing element belongs to a class of cis elements that might be useful for genome diversification by activating genes encoded by otherwise silent transposable elements.

• 出版日期2004-4