ReviewThe EMBO journal2026
Graded versus ON/OFF control in quantitative gene expression and epigenetic memory.
Review in The EMBO journal, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
How can expression of a specific gene be quantitatively regulated? In this review, we discuss two possible modalities. In one, the level of mRNA generated from each gene copy can be smoothly varied giving graded analogue control. In a second, some gene copies generate high mRNA levels whilst others generate very low levels, giving ON/OFF digital control, with the fraction of copies with high or low expression being regulated. We focus on why in different contexts one modality would be preferred over the other, how these two modalities can be generated through transcriptional regulation, and discuss whether ON/OFF control is particularly linked to epigenetic memory. We argue that digital control arises for memory mediated by trans-factor feedback loops and histone modifications, but not necessarily for DNA methylation. We also examine how these expression modes can be established at one specific target, Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). Graded expression and switching to ON/OFF control occur during early development and during long-term cold exposure and both are key to FLC regulation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.