美国哈佛医学院M. Springer研究小组在研究中取得进展。他们的最新研究表明转录因子的表达和激活解偶联可调控调光开关基因。相关论文于2021年4月16日发表在《科学》杂志上。

研究人员发现在酿酒酵母半乳糖反应途径中，激活编码途径组分的基因转录并不受其表达水平的调控，从而导致类似于机械调光开关的行为。这并不是半乳糖反应性启动子染色质调节或组合控制的直接结果。

相反，此行为是通过单个转录因子表达和激活的分级调节来实现。分级调节无处不在，因此调光器开关调节可能是许多生物系统的关键特征。调光开关基因调节可以使细胞在生理和进化尺度上微调其对许多输入信号的反应。

据介绍，基因调控网络通过未知的机制实现了信号输入到输出的复杂映射。

附：英文原文

Title: Decoupling transcription factor expression and activity enables dimmer switch gene regulation

Author: C. Ricci-Tam, I. Ben-Zion, J. Wang, J. Palme, A. Li, Y. Savir, M. Springer

Issue&Volume: 2021/04/16

Abstract: Gene-regulatory networks achieve complex mappings of inputs to outputs through mechanisms that are poorly understood. We found that in the galactose-responsive pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the decision to activate the transcription of genes encoding pathway components is controlled independently from the expression level, resulting in behavior resembling that of a mechanical dimmer switch. This was not a direct result of chromatin regulation or combinatorial control at galactose-responsive promoters; rather, this behavior was achieved by hierarchical regulation of the expression and activity of a single transcription factor. Hierarchical regulation is ubiquitous, and thus dimmer switch regulation is likely a key feature of many biological systems. Dimmer switch gene regulation may allow cells to fine-tune their responses to multi-input environments on both physiological and evolutionary time scales.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aba7582

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6539/292