Chapter 17, Problem 11
Distinguish between the cis-acting regulatory elements referred to as promoters and enhancers.
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AU-rich elements (AREs) are cis-elements in mRNAs that regulate stability and decay. How is it possible that a single mRNA sequence element can serve to stabilize an mRNA in some cases and lead to its decay in other scenarios?
Explain how the addition of acetyl groups to histones leads to a weaker association of DNA in nucleosomes.
What are processing bodies (P bodies), and what role do they play in mRNA regulation?
Enhancers can influence the transcription of genes far away on the same chromosome. How are the effects of enhancers restricted so that they do not exert inappropriate transcriptional activation of non-target genes?
Competing endogenous RNAs act as molecular 'sponges.' What does this mean, and what do they compete with?
While circular RNAs were first described long ago, they have only recently been investigated for function. What are their known and suspected functions in the cell?