ArticleThe EMBO journal1998
Cooperative DNA-binding by Bicoid provides a mechanism for threshold-dependent gene activation in the Drosophila embryo.
Article in The EMBO journal, 1998. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 93 papers.
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93 citing papers in PubMed.
- Cooperativity enables widespread role of low-affinity motifs in chromatin accessibility and increases regulatory potential.Cell genomics · 2026Article
- NovelbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Widespread low-affinity motifs enhance chromatin accessibility and regulatory potential in mESCs.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Characterizing the regulatory logic of transcriptional control at the DNA sequence level by ensembles of thermodynamic models.Bioinformatics (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Bicoid-nucleosome competition sets a concentration threshold for transcription constrained by genome replication.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Experimental approaches to investigate biophysical interactions between homeodomain transcription factors and DNA.Biochimica et biophysica acta. Gene regulatory mechanisms · 2025Review
- Transcription factor clusters as information transfer agents.Science advances · 2025Article
- Article
- Interpreting cis-regulatory interactions from large-scale deep neural networks.Nature genetics · 2024Article
- How Transcription Factor Clusters Shape the Transcriptional Landscape.Biomolecules · 2024Review
- InterpretingbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Long-range formation of the Bicoid gradient requires multiple dynamic modes that spatially vary across the embryo.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
- Deep molecular learning of transcriptional control of a synthetic CRE enhancer and its variants.iScience · 2024Article
- Phenotypic heterogeneity in human genetic diseases: ultrasensitivity-mediated threshold effects as a unifying molecular mechanism.Journal of biomedical science · 2023Review
- Molecular encoding of stimulus features in a single sensory neuron type enables neuronal and behavioral plasticity.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Transcriptional activators in the early Drosophila embryo perform different kinetic roles.Cell systems · 2023Article
- Article
- Molecular encoding of stimulus features in a single sensory neuron type enables neuronal and behavioral plasticity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Patterning principles of morphogen gradients.Open biology · 2022Review
- Multiple molecular events underlie stochastic switching between 2 heritable cell states in fungi.PLoS biology · 2022Article
33 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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4 authors.
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Abstract
The Bicoid morphogen directs pattern formation along the anterior-posterior (A-P) axis of the Drosophila embryo. Bicoid is distributed in a concentration gradient that decreases exponentially from the anterior pole, however, it transcribes target genes such as hunchback in a step-function-like pattern; the expression domain is uniform and has a sharply defined posterior boundary. A 'gradient-affinity' model proposed to explain Bicoid action states that (i) cooperative gene activation by Bicoid generates the sharp on/off switch for target gene transcription and (ii) target genes with different affinities for Bicoid are expressed at different positions along the A-P axis. Using an in vivo yeast assay and in vitro methods, we show that Bicoid binds DNA with pairwise cooperativity; Bicoid bound to a strong site helps Bicoid bind to a weak site. These results support the first aspect of the model, providing a mechanism by which Bicoid generates sharp boundaries of gene expression. However, contrary to the second aspect of the model, we find no significant difference between the affinity of Bicoid for the anterior gene hunchback and the posterior gene knirps. We propose, instead, that the arrangement of Bicoids bound to the target gene presents a unique signature to the transcription machinery that, in combination with overall affinity, regulates the extent of gene transcription along the A-P axis.
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