Structure
Transcription factors are modular in structure and contain the following domains:
- DNA-binding domain (DBD), which attach to specific sequences of DNA (enhancer or Promoter: Necessary component for all vectors: used to drive transcription of the vector's transgene promoter sequences) adjacent to regulated genes. DNA sequences that bind transcription factors are often referred to as response elements.
- Trans-activating domain (TAD), which contain binding sites for other proteins such as transcription coregulators. These binding sites are frequently referred to as activation functions (AFs).
- An optional signal sensing domain (SSD) (e.g., a ligand binding domain), which senses external signals and, in response, transmit these signals to the rest of the transcription complex, resulting in up- or down-regulation of gene expression. Also, the DBD and signal-sensing domains may reside on separate proteins that associate within the transcription complex to regulate gene expression.
Read more about this topic: Transcription Factor
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“The verbal poetical texture of Shakespeare is the greatest the world has known, and is immensely superior to the structure of his plays as plays. With Shakespeare it is the metaphor that is the thing, not the play.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“... the structure of a page of good prose is, analyzed logically, not something frozen but the vibrating of a bridge, which changes with every step one takes on it.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)
“If rightly made, a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal, a creature of two elements, related by one half its structure to some swift and shapely fish, and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)