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Cis-regulatory Element
''Cis''-regulatory elements (CREs) or ''Cis''-regulatory modules (CRMs) are regions of non-coding DNA which regulate the transcription of neighboring genes. CREs are vital components of genetic regulatory networks, which in turn control morphogenesis, the development of anatomy, and other aspects of embryonic development, studied in evolutionary developmental biology. CREs are found in the vicinity of the genes that they regulate. CREs typically regulate gene transcription by binding to transcription factors. A single transcription factor may bind to many CREs, and hence control the expression of many genes (pleiotropy). The Latin prefix ''cis'' means "on this side", i.e. on the same molecule of DNA as the gene(s) to be transcribed. CRMs are stretches of DNA, usually 100–1000 DNA base pairs in length, where a number of transcription factors can bind and regulate expression of nearby genes and regulate their transcription rates. They are labeled as ''cis'' because they are ty ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-coding DNA
Non-coding DNA (ncDNA) sequences are components of an organism's DNA that do not encode protein sequences. Some non-coding DNA is transcribed into functional non-coding RNA molecules (e.g. transfer RNA, microRNA, piRNA, ribosomal RNA, and regulatory RNAs). Other functional regions of the non-coding DNA fraction include regulatory sequences that control gene expression; scaffold attachment regions; origins of DNA replication; centromeres; and telomeres. Some non-coding regions appear to be mostly nonfunctional such as introns, pseudogenes, intergenic DNA, and fragments of transposons and viruses. Fraction of non-coding genomic DNA In bacteria, the coding regions typically take up 88 % of the genome. The remaining 12 % consists largely of non-coding genes and regulatory sequences, which means that almost all of the bacterial genome has a function. The amount of coding DNA in eukaryrotes is usually a much smaller fraction of the genome because eukaryotic genomes cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regulation Of Gene Expression
Regulation of gene expression, or gene regulation, includes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA). Sophisticated programs of gene expression are widely observed in biology, for example to trigger developmental pathways, respond to environmental stimuli, or adapt to new food sources. Virtually any step of gene expression can be modulated, from transcriptional initiation, to RNA processing, and to the post-translational modification of a protein. Often, one gene regulator controls another, and so on, in a gene regulatory network. Gene regulation is essential for viruses, prokaryotes and eukaryotes as it increases the versatility and adaptability of an organism by allowing the cell to express protein when needed. Although as early as 1951, Barbara McClintock showed interaction between two genetic loci, Activator (''Ac'') and Dissociator (''Ds''), in the color formation of maize see ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AND Gate
The AND gate is a basic digital logic gate that implements logical conjunction (∧) from mathematical logic AND gate behaves according to the truth table. A HIGH output (1) results only if all the inputs to the AND gate are HIGH (1). If not all inputs to the AND gate are HIGH, LOW output results. The function can be extended to any number of inputs. Symbols There are three symbols for AND gates: the American (ANSI or 'military') symbol and the IEC ('European' or 'rectangular') symbol, as well as the deprecated DIN symbol. Additional inputs can be added as needed. For more information see Logic gate symbols article. It can also be denoted as symbol "^" or "&". The AND gate with inputs ''A'' and ''B'' and output ''C'' implements the logical expression C = A \cdot B. This expression also may be denoted as C=A \wedge B or C=A \And B. Implementations An AND gate can be designed using only N-channel (pictured) or P-channel MOSFETs, but is usually implemented with both (CMOS). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OR Gate
The OR gate is a digital logic gate that implements logical disjunction. The OR gate returns true if either or both of its inputs are true; otherwise it returns false. The input and output states are normally represented by different voltage levels. Description The gate accepts two inputs. It outputs a 1 if either or both of these inputs are 1, or outputs a 0 only if both inputs are 0. The inputs and outputs are binary digits (" bits") which have two possible logical states. In addition to 1 and 0, these states may be called true and false, high and low, active and inactive, or other such pairs of symbols. Thus it performs logical disjunction (∨) from mathematical logic. The gate can be represented with the plus sign (+) because it can be used for logical addition. Equivalently, an OR gate finds the ''maximum'' between two binary digits, just as the AND gate finds the ''minimum''. Together with the AND gate and the NOT gate, the OR gate is one of three basic logic gat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boolean Logic
In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variables are the truth values ''true'' and ''false'', usually denoted 1 and 0, whereas in elementary algebra the values of the variables are numbers. Second, Boolean algebra uses logical operators such as conjunction (''and'') denoted as ∧, disjunction (''or'') denoted as ∨, and the negation (''not'') denoted as ¬. Elementary algebra, on the other hand, uses arithmetic operators such as addition, multiplication, subtraction and division. So Boolean algebra is a formal way of describing logical operations, in the same way that elementary algebra describes numerical operations. Boolean algebra was introduced by George Boole in his first book ''The Mathematical Analysis of Logic'' (1847), and set forth more fully in his '' An Investigation of the Laws of Thought'' (1854). According to Huntington, the term "Boolean alge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gene Silencing
Gene silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the expression of a certain gene. Gene silencing can occur during either transcription or translation and is often used in research. In particular, methods used to silence genes are being increasingly used to produce therapeutics to combat cancer and other diseases, such as infectious diseases and neurodegenerative disorders. Gene silencing is often considered the same as gene knockdown. When genes are silenced, their expression is reduced. In contrast, when genes are knocked out, they are completely erased from the organism's genome and, thus, have no expression. Gene silencing is considered a gene knockdown mechanism since the methods used to silence genes, such as RNAi, CRISPR, or siRNA, generally reduce the expression of a gene by at least 70% but do not eliminate it. Methods using gene silencing are often considered better than gene knockouts since they allow researchers to study essential genes that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigenetics
In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the traditional genetic basis for inheritance. Epigenetics most often involves changes that affect the regulation of gene expression, but the term can also be used to describe any heritable phenotypic change. Such effects on cellular and physiological phenotypic traits may result from external or environmental factors, or be part of normal development. The term also refers to the mechanism of changes: functionally relevant alterations to the genome that do not involve mutation of the nucleotide sequence. Examples of mechanisms that produce such changes are DNA methylation and histone modification, each of which alters how genes are expressed without altering the underlying DNA sequence. Gene express ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silencer (DNA)
In genetics, a silencer is a DNA sequence capable of binding transcription regulation factors, called repressors. DNA contains genes and provides the template to produce messenger RNA (mRNA). That mRNA is then translated into proteins. When a repressor protein binds to the silencer region of DNA, RNA polymerase is prevented from transcribing the DNA sequence into RNA. With transcription blocked, the translation of RNA into proteins is impossible. Thus, silencers prevent genes from being expressed as proteins. RNA polymerase, a DNA-dependent enzyme, transcribes the DNA sequences, called nucleotides, in the 3' to 5' direction while the complementary RNA is synthesized in the 5' to 3' direction. RNA is similar to DNA, except that RNA contains uracil, instead of thymine, which forms a base pair with adenine. An important region for the activity of gene repression and expression found in RNA is the 3' untranslated region. This is a region on the 3' terminus of RNA that will not ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Insulator (genetics)
An insulator is a type of cis-regulatory element known as a long-range regulatory element. Found in multicellular eukaryotes and working over distances from the promoter element of the target gene, an insulator is typically 300 bp to 2000 bp in length. Insulators contain clustered binding sites for sequence specific DNA-binding proteins and mediate intra- and inter-chromosomal interactions. Insulators function either as an enhancer-blocker or a barrier, or both. The mechanisms by which an insulator performs these two functions include loop formation and nucleosome modifications. There are many examples of insulators, including the CTCF insulator, the ''gypsy'' insulator, and the β-globin locus. The CTCF insulator is especially important in vertebrates, while the ''gypsy'' insulator is implicated in ''Drosophila.'' The β-globin locus was first studied in chicken and then in humans for its insulator activity, both of which utilize CTCF. The genetic implications of insulat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enhancers
In genetics, an enhancer is a short (50–1500 bp) region of DNA that can be bound by proteins ( activators) to increase the likelihood that transcription of a particular gene will occur. These proteins are usually referred to as transcription factors. Enhancers are ''cis''-acting. They can be located up to 1 Mbp (1,000,000 bp) away from the gene, upstream or downstream from the start site. There are hundreds of thousands of enhancers in the human genome. They are found in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The first discovery of a eukaryotic enhancer was in the immunoglobulin heavy chain gene in 1983. This enhancer, located in the large intron, provided an explanation for the transcriptional activation of rearranged Vh gene promoters while unrearranged Vh promoters remained inactive. Locations In eukaryotic cells the structure of the chromatin complex of DNA is folded in a way that functionally mimics the supercoiled state characteristic of prokaryotic DNA, so although the en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promoter (biology)
In genetics, a promoter is a sequence of DNA to which proteins bind to initiate transcription of a single RNA transcript from the DNA downstream of the promoter. The RNA transcript may encode a protein (mRNA), or can have a function in and of itself, such as tRNA or rRNA. Promoters are located near the transcription start sites of genes, upstream on the DNA (towards the 5' region of the sense strand). Promoters can be about 100–1000 base pairs long, the sequence of which is highly dependent on the gene and product of transcription, type or class of RNA polymerase recruited to the site, and species of organism. Promoters control gene expression in bacteria and eukaryotes. RNA polymerase must attach to DNA near a gene for transcription to occur. Promoter DNA sequences provide an enzyme binding site. The -10 sequence is TATAAT. -35 sequences are conserved on average, but not in most promoters. Artificial promoters with conserved -10 and -35 elements transcribe more slowly. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regulatory Elements
A regulatory sequence is a segment of a nucleic acid molecule which is capable of increasing or decreasing the expression of specific genes within an organism. Regulation of gene expression is an essential feature of all living organisms and viruses. Description In DNA, regulation of gene expression normally happens at the level of RNA biosynthesis ( transcription). It is accomplished through the sequence-specific binding of proteins (transcription factors) that activate or inhibit transcription. Transcription factors may act as activators, repressors, or both. Repressors often act by preventing RNA polymerase from forming a productive complex with the transcriptional initiation region ( promoter), while activators facilitate formation of a productive complex. Furthermore, DNA motifs have been shown to be predictive of epigenomic modifications, suggesting that transcription factors play a role in regulating the epigenome. In RNA, regulation may occur at the level of prote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
