Chapter 19, Problem 13PIAT

Summary Introduction

To review:

The difference in the rates of the initiating transcription of the regulated gene between two nearly identical enhancers.

Introduction:

An enhancer is a regulatory sequence on the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) located far from the promoter base sequence. Like the core promoter sequence in eukaryotes, they also assist in initiating transcription. They get associated with transcriptional factors (proteins) during initiation of transcription.

Scientists discovered that enhancer associated with hair color has a binding site for a particular transcription factor. One form of the binding site has the sequence CACTAAAG and is associated with dark hair, and the other form of the binding site has the nearly identical sequence CGCTAAG and is associated with blond hair.