Many genes are developmentally regulated by transcriptional enhancer sequences that bind activator proteins.
Enhancers can increase transcription at promoters located several kilobases away.
Current models for how activator proteins work cannot explain how enhancers activate over such remote distances. Long distance activation is not an intrinsic property of activator proteins. Like enhancers, UASs also bind activator proteins, but they only function efficiently when within a kilobase or so upstream of the promoter. These factors might, for example, transmit the activation signal down the chromosome, or perhaps alter the chromosomal structure to bring the enhancer and promoter closer together. The main goal of the research in my laboratory is to identify the factors that facilitate long-range communication and determine how they work.