What are enhancers, activators and transcription factors; why and how do they make DNA bend?

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What are enhancers, activators and transcription factors; why and how do they make DNA bend?

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

First, an analogy.

Let’s say DNA was social media. A transcription factor is like a user. Some users (activators) are hype men. Others (repressors) are negative Nancies. All users use their posts or comments to communicate. These posts are components of social media, but there are so many other kinds of posts as well.

Back to reality.

Transcription factors (TFs) are proteins that bind to specific sequences of DNA, and these sequences are known as enhancers or silencers. Activators are TFs that bind to enhancers, and repressors are TFs that bind to silencers. Activators and silencers can respectively increase or decrease transcription by attracting or repelling RNA polymerase. DNA bends as a result of these attached protein complexes attracting or repelling one another.