An enhancer trap is a transgenic construction for the identification of enhancers, produced by the fusing of two proteins, genes for which are inserted into the genome. The enhancer trap structure contains a mobile element (necessary for random insertion in the genome) usually some sort of P element (a promoter that must be sensitive to the enhancer) and a reporter gene. The reporter gene is necessary for identification of the spatial regulation by enhancers. The most common and basic enhancer traps are: P from the bacterium E. coli and P from yeast.
The enhancer trap also uses some sort of visible marker that allows the new insertions to be recognized such as the white gene, resulting in a red eye color in Drosophila or ampicillin resistance for E. coli.
There exists a large number of fly stocks containing GAL4 insertions and an equally large number of fly stocks containing an UAS DNA sequence followed by a gene of interest, which permits the expression of a large number of genes with different GAL4 "drivers". Rather than generating transgenic flies with the enhancer linked directly to the gene of interest (which takes about a year, if you are starting without the appropriate DNA construct), you simply mate (cross) one transgenic fly with another transgenic fly.
Famous quotes containing the word trap:
“All Coolidge had to do in 1924 was to keep his mean trap shut, to be elected. All Harding had to do in 1920 was repeat “Avoid foreign entanglements.” All Hoover had to do in 1928 was to endorse Coolidge. All Roosevelt had to do in 1932 was to point to Hoover.”
—Robert E. Sherwood (1896–1955)