M. Ptashne, A.A.F. Gann, "Activators and targets," Nature, 346:329-31, 1990.
Alexander Gann (Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.): "Over the last few years a picture has emerged to explain how eukaryotic transcriptional activators regulate gene expression. According to this picture, an activator binds to DNA close to a gene, interacts with some component of the transcription machinery--bringing it to the DNA and/or changing its conformation on the DNA--and thereby increases the efficiency of transcription initiation. Which component of the transcription machinery is seen by the activator? In an attempt to answer this vital question, several papers published in a short period last year reported a number of interesting, but not entirely compatible, observations. Our review was simply an attempt to bring together these new findings, and to see whether they could be accommodated within a relatively simple model. At this stage it is still rather early to say how successful an attempt ...
