Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1991 Sep;10(9):2543-51.
doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07794.x.

Enhancer activation by a single type of transcription factor shows cell type dependence

M Forsberg  1 , G Westin
Affiliations

Enhancer activation by a single type of transcription factor shows cell type dependence

M Forsberg et al. EMBO J. 1991 Sep.

Abstract

Promoter and enhancer elements contain multiple binding sites for ubiquitous and cell type-specific transcription factors which stimulate transcription synergistically. Here we show that cell type-dependent enhancer activity can be achieved by mechanisms other than interactions between cell type-specific transcription factors and DNA. The ability of the SV40 enhancer and the E2 transactivator from bovine papillomavirus (BPV-1) to stimulate transcription from a reporter gene with different minimal promoters was tested in four cell lines. In lymphoid BJA-B cells all minimal promoters that synergized with the SV40 enhancer did so also with the E2-dependent enhancer. In sharp contrast to these results, the E2 enhancer stimulated transcription only from a subset of promoters in fibroblasts and in epithelial cells. The results suggest that lymphoid cells, unlike fibroblasts and epithelial cells, contain auxiliary factor(s) which are necessary for the activation of certain promoters by the E2 enhancer and infer that the specificity of enhancers also is regulated at a co-activator level.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. EMBO J. 1988 Dec 20;7(13):4245-53 - PubMed
    1. Genes Dev. 1987 Nov;1(9):962-72 - PubMed
    1. Genes Dev. 1987 Mar;1(1):65-74 - PubMed
    1. Genes Dev. 1988 Jan;2(1):54-67 - PubMed
    1. J Virol. 1988 Sep;62(9):3143-50 - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms