Eukaryotic gene expression: Very short repeats and coordinate induction of genes

Abstract

The proposition that a set of unlinked genes could be coordinately induced by means of cis interactions with a common regulatory molecule retains an attractive simplicity. The idea requires that some form of homologous sequence exists in the vicinity of genes that are functionally related and are induced in concert. As primary sequence data for sets of such genes have become available, several interesting homologies have indeed turned up. Though the shared sequence elements are quite short, the statistical probability of their chance occurrence in similar positions with respect to each of the several coordinately induced genes is extremely low. Furthermore, in two such cases, direct evidence has been obtained by DNA transformation that the short repeated sequence elements shared among the 5'-flanking regions of the inducible genes are required for regulation.

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