DNA binding specificity and transcriptional regulation of Six4: a myotonic dystrophy associated transcription factor
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Date
2009Author
Kiosses, Theodore
Metadata
Abstract
Attaining an understanding of the mechanisms underpinning development has
been amongst the cardinal scientific challenges of our age. The transition from a
single cell organism to the level of complexity evidenced in higher eukaryotes has
been facilitated by the advent of intricate developmental networks involving a
plethora of factors that synergise to allow for precise spatio-temporal expression of
the proteins present in higher organisms. Development is often portrayed as a domino like
cascade of events stemming from relatively uncomplicated origins that go on to
branch out and form associations and interactions amongst multitudinous actors that
will inexorably lead towards a higher state of order. Transcription factors occupy a
central position within this tapestry of interactions. They regulate expression of the
various required proteins and they provide the cues for the developmental events that
will eventually shape an organism. These factors frequently remain unknown until
some occurrence causes developmental processes to fail and inadvertently focus
attention on the factors that facilitate development. Myotonic dystrophy is a useful
paradigm of such a developmental dysfunction that has led to the discovery of a
transcription factor integral to both muscle development and gonadogenesis in both
Drosophila and higher eukaryotes.