Using Chromatin For Gene Expression in Drosophila
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The way an enhancer works is similar to how a promoter is used in biology. The enhancer binding to a regulatory element changes the odds that a specific gene transcription will happen. Enhancers also can regulate the activity of other regulatory elements such as enhancers and regulatory transition regions which sometimes act in tandem to help regulate a trait. Often an enhancer has a consensus sequence with multiple other sequences which are important to make it function correctly and in a manner which will be best for the organism.
Most commonly an enhancer will pair up with at least one regulatory element that can act in concert to promote target genes. There are some exceptions to this generalization though including the concept of in silico predictions which is the use of amino acid base pairs to predict which enhancers will come into play. There are also examples of regulatory elements which are involved in generating signals which encourage enhancers to function. There are still many other examples of interacting components which are working together to promote desired traits. In order to use an enhancer it is important to understand the different types of sequences and how they interact and this will be studied in further detail in future articles.
