Gene Regulation in Eukaryotes Flashcards
key to being complex organism
gene regulation not more genes
constitutive (housekeeping) genes
always on at all time in all cells (ex: actin and other genes that make components of the cytoskeleton, genes that make enzymes that carry out glycolysis)
inducible/repressible genes
level of activity changes as your needs change (ex: metallothionein and genes whose proteins clear metals can be induced by the presence of metal in the body)
tissue dependent gene regulation
responsible for differentiation of different tissue types; subset of genes that get turned on determine what proteins cell has which determines properties that cell has; tissue specific epigenetic difference in genes
cell division
cells become more specialized w every cell division
globin genes
time dependent gene regulation; gamma-Hb has higher affinity of O2 than beta-Hb which allows fetus’ Hb to take O2 out of the mother’s blood
biochemical individuality
differences in gene activity levels; gene regulation is variable btwn individuals so level of activity in most proteins variable btwn inds
epigenetic factors
regulation of gene express that does not involve changing the sequence of bases in the gene; factors that influence chromatin configuration
DNA packaging
chromatin config. changes to make promoter region more/less accessible to transcription factors
facultative heterochromatin
some heterochr regions packed as heterochr in one cell but euchr in another cell; some exist mostly as heterochr but can decondense temporarily and express genes in region in response to certain molecular signals
transcription initiation
interactions btwn regulatory sequences and transcriptional activators/inhibitors
RNA processing
alt cleavage and splicing of pre-RNAs
RNA stability
poly-A-tail and interferring RNAs regulate RNA longevity
translation initiation
5’ and 3’ UTRs and interfering RNAs regulate rate of translation
cis acting transcription regulation
lie on the same chr as the gene (ex: promoters, enhancers, insulators and other seqs that lie in the regulatory regions)
trans acting transcription regulation
produced elsewhere and bind the regulatory sequences (ex: activators, repressors that bind to promoter region or insulator binding proteins)
transcriptional activators/repressors
bind to reg promoter or enhance and can increase rate of transcription or keep the gene silenced
transcription factor protein complex and RNA polymerase
bind to core promoter and provide ability to transcribe but at minimal rate
step one in signal transduction
hormone binds to extracellular domain of receptor protein (surface of cell)
step two in signal transduction
receptor protein has intracellular domain that initiates biochemical cascade often involving phosphorylation of proteins inside cell
step three in signal transduction
biochemical cascade alters transcription factor and allow it to enter nucleus and activate/inhibit its target genes
response element
promoter seq. that is found in promoter regions of several genes whose proteins must work together; enable eukaryotes to regulate multiple genes simultaneously and coordinately regulated; one event (heat, stress) can activate/inhibit # of genes whose proteins help cell cope w the event
insulators
prevent gene activation by transcription factors
chromatin configuration
regulates gene activity: heterochromatin, euchromatin, supercondensation of heterochromatin; chromatin must be rearranged to allow transcription factor proteins and RNA polymerase to access the gene’s promoters (even in euchr)
regulatory sequences
must be accessible to transcription factors for transcription to occur
DNAse I
enzyme that cuts DNA next to each pyrimidine nucleotide (C and T) cuts DNA down to approx. 1-8 bp fragments; more relaxed chromatin is more sensitive to DNAse; more transcriptionally active regions are more sensitive to DNAse I
chromosome puffs
form in regions in which several genes are active for some species (ex: drosophila)