Transcription coregulator

Transcription factor glossary
  • gene expression – the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product such as a protein
  • transcription – the process of making messenger RNA (mRNA) from a DNA template by RNA polymerase
  • transcription factor – a protein that binds to DNA and regulates gene expression by promoting or suppressing transcription
  • transcriptional regulation – controlling the rate of gene transcription for example by helping or hindering RNA polymerase binding to DNA
  • upregulation, activation, or promotion – increase the rate of gene transcription
  • downregulation, repression, or suppression – decrease the rate of gene transcription
  • coactivator – a protein (or a small molecule) that works with transcription factors to increase the rate of gene transcription
  • corepressor – a protein (or a small molecule) that works with transcription factors to decrease the rate of gene transcription
  • response element – a specific sequence of DNA that a transcription factor binds to

In molecular biology and genetics, transcription coregulators are proteins that interact with transcription factors to either activate or repress the transcription of specific genes.[1] Transcription coregulators that activate gene transcription are referred to as coactivators while those that repress are known as corepressors. The mechanism of action of transcription coregulators is to modify chromatin structure and thereby make the associated DNA more or less accessible to transcription. In humans several dozen to several hundred coregulators are known, depending on the level of confidence with which the characterisation of a protein as a coregulator can be made.[2] One class of transcription coregulators modifies chromatin structure through covalent modification of histones. A second ATP dependent class modifies the conformation of chromatin.[3]

  1. ^ Glass CK, Rosenfeld MG (2000). "The coregulator exchange in transcriptional functions of nuclear receptors". Genes Dev. 14 (2): 121–41. doi:10.1101/gad.14.2.121. PMID 10652267. S2CID 12793980.
  2. ^ Schaefer U, Schmeier S, Bajic VB (Jan 2011). "TcoF-DB: dragon database for human transcription co-factors and transcription factor interacting proteins". Nucleic Acids Res. 39 (Database issue): D106-10. doi:10.1093/nar/gkq945. PMC 3013796. PMID 20965969.
  3. ^ Kingston RE, Narlikar GJ (1999). "ATP-dependent remodeling and acetylation as regulators of chromatin fluidity". Genes Dev. 13 (18): 2339–52. doi:10.1101/gad.13.18.2339. PMID 10500090.