Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

GENE REGULATION

Enhancer–promoter interactions and transcription

An Author Correction to this article was published on 03 March 2021

This article has been updated

A new study addresses whether transcription of enhancers and the resulting enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) play a role in mediating long-range interactions between enhancers and promoters. Studying the immunoglobulin heavy chain (Igh) locus, the authors find that transcription of the enhancers per se is required to establish but not maintain these interactions, and this mechanism may apply to a subset of other enhancer–promoter interactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Enhancer–promoter communication in the presence or absence of transcription.

Change history

References

  1. Furlong, E. E. M. & Levine, M. Science 361, 1341–1345 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Grosveld, F., van Assendelft, G. B., Greaves, D. R. & Kollias, G. Cell 51, 975–985 (1987).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Higgs, D. R. et al. Genes Dev. 4, 1588–1601 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fudenberg, G. et al. Cell Rep. 15, 2038–2049 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Rao, S. S. P. et al. Cell 171, 305–320.e24 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Heinz, S., Romanoski, C. E., Benner, C. & Glass, C. K. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 16, 144–154 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Tippens, N. D., Vihervaara, A. & Lis, J. T. Genes Dev. 32, 1–3 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Zhang, H. et al. Nature 576, 158–162 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Fitz, J. et al. Nat. Genet. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0605-6 (2020).

  10. Gu, B. et al. Science 359, 1050–1055 (2018).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Germier, T. et al. Biophys. J. 113, 1383–1394 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Douglas R. Higgs.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Higgs, D.R. Enhancer–promoter interactions and transcription. Nat Genet 52, 470–471 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0620-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0620-7

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Translational Research

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma.

Get what matters in translational research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Translational Research