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

Item Type:	Article
Title:	A cis element in the recombination activating gene locus regulates gene expression by counteracting a distant silencer
Creators Name:	Yannoutsos, N. and Barreto, V. and Misulovin, Z. and Gazumyan, A. and Yu, W. and Rajewsky, N. and Peixoto, B.R. and Eisenreich, T. and Nussenzweig, M.C.
Abstract:	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.
Keywords:	CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit, DNA-Binding Proteins, Down-Regulation, Gene Expression Regulation, RAG-1 Genes, Proto-Oncogene Proteins, Sequence Deletion, Transcriptional Silencer Elements, Thymus Gland, Transcription Factors, Animals, Mice
Source:	Nature Immunology
ISSN:	1529-2908
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
Volume:	5
Number:	4
Page Range:	443-450
Date:	April 2004
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1038/ni1053
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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