ArticleCell systems2023
Minimal synthetic enhancers reveal control of the probability of transcriptional engagement and its timing by a morphogen gradient.
Article in Cell systems, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed.
- Enhancer binding kinetics explain transcription factor hub formation.Science advances · 2026Article
- Stable epigenetic states set single-cell activation thresholds in mammalian expression systems.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Simulation of transcription factor clustering in nuclei from molecular kinetics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Decoupling between activation time and steady-state level in input-output responses.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Predictive modeling of gene expression and localization of DNA binding site using deep convolutional neural networks.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Mitotic reactivation and transcriptional bursting govern transcriptional noise in the early Drosophila embryo.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Heterogeneous NF-κB activation and enhancer features shape transcription in Drosophila immunity.Biophysical journal · 2026Article
- Algebraic formulas for first-passage times of Markov processes in the linear framework.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2025Article
- Emergence of activation or repression in transcriptional control under a fixed molecular context.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- A single cluster of RNA Polymerase II molecules is stably associated with active genes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Decoupling between activation time and steady-state level in input-output responses.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Novel Fluorescent and Photoconvertible Fusions Reveal Dorsal Activator Dynamics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Comparative single-cell analysis of transcriptional bursting reveals the role of genome organization in de novo transcript origination.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Comparative single cell analysis of transcriptional bursting reveals the role of genome organization onbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Optogenetic dissection of transcriptional repression in a multicellular organism.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Time will tell: comparing timescales to gain insight into transcriptional bursting.Trends in genetics : TIG · 2024Review
- Modulation of protein-DNA binding reveals mechanisms of spatiotemporal gene control in earlyeLife · 2023Article
- Dynamics of an incoherent feedforward loop drive ERK-dependent pattern formation in the early Drosophila embryo.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2023Article
- A bistable autoregulatory module in the developing embryo commits cells to binary expression fates.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Competing constraints shape the nonequilibrium limits of cellular decision-making.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
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8 authors.
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Abstract
How enhancers interpret morphogen gradients to generate gene expression patterns is a central question in developmental biology. Recent studies have proposed that enhancers can dictate whether, when, and at what rate promoters engage in transcription, but the complexity of endogenous enhancers calls for theoretical models with too many free parameters to quantitatively dissect these regulatory strategies. To overcome this limitation, we established a minimal promoter-proximal synthetic enhancer in embryos of Drosophila melanogaster. Here, a gradient of the Dorsal activator is read by a single Dorsal DNA binding site. Using live imaging to quantify transcriptional activity, we found that a single binding site can regulate whether promoters engage in transcription in a concentration-dependent manner. By modulating the binding-site affinity, we determined that a gene's decision to transcribe and its transcriptional onset time can be explained by a simple model where the promoter traverses multiple kinetic barriers before transcription can ensue.
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