Gene Activation: The Role of Enhancers and Repressors

Your DNA has remote controls that can activate a gene from thousands of letters away.

Think of a gene having a "start" sign. A machine needs to land there to

read it, but it can't do it alone—it needs helper proteins called transcription

factors. To really crank up the volume, another protein grabs a booster

spot, an enhancer, that might be super far away. The DNA literally

has to bend into a loop so the distant booster can touch the starting machinery and supercharge

gene production. And just as easily, other proteins can act as repressors, binding to these

spots to shut the whole operation down.