Genome wide studies have provided a wealth of information related to histone modifications. Particular modifications, which can encompass both broad and discrete regions, are associated with certain genomic elements and gene expression status. Here we focus on how studies on the beta-globin gene cluster can complement the genome wide effort through the thorough dissection of histone modifying p...

Somatic gene therapy of hemoglobinopathies depends inikb human b-globin gene-containing provirus in 2 of these mice. In addition, long-term expression of the transferred tially on the demonstration of safe, efficient gene transfer and long-term, high-level expression of the transferred hugene is seen in 2 mice at levels of 5% and 20% that of endogenous murine b-globin at 6 and 8 months posttran...

Chromatin in the 5' flanking region of the transcriptionally active chicken adult beta(beta A) globin gene is hypersensitive to nuclease digestion. When plasmids carrying this gene are combined with histones in the presence of extracts from 9-day-old chicken erythrocyte nuclei, the resultant complex displays hypersensitive behavior in the same region. No such behavior is observed with extracts ...

Developmental stage-specific expression of the β-type globin genes is regulated by many cis- and trans-acting components. The adult β-globin gene contains an E-box located 60 bp downstream of the transcription start site that has been shown to bind transcription factor upstream stimulatory factor (USF) and to contribute to efficient in vitro transcription. We expressed an artificial zinc finger...

S ickle cell disease (SCD) and b-thalassemia are widespread genetic disorders that result from inherited mutations in the adultb-globin gene. An important aspect of SCD and b-thalassemia is that diseasecausing mutations affect the adult b-globin gene but leave intact its fetal counterparts Ggand Ag-globin, a point that explains why SCD and b-thalassemia patients first experience major symptoms ...

For a genomic region containing a tandem gene cluster, a proper set of alignments needs to align only orthologous segments, i.e., those separated by a speciation event. Otherwise, methods for finding regions under evolutionary selection will not perform properly. Conversely, the alignments should indicate every orthologous pair of genes or genomic segments. Attaining this goal in practice requi...

The relationship between DNA methylation and differential expression of rabbit beta-like globin genes was studied by using restriction enzymes that cleave the sequence C-C-G-G but are differentially inhibited by the presence of 5-methylcytosine. The methylation frequency of 13 C-C-G-G sites that flank a set of four closely linked rabbit beta-like globin genes was determined. This analysis revea...

Biochemical analysis of the b-globin gene function has led to the identification of several multi-protein complexes at the locus control region (LCR), insulator and promoters. This review briefly summarizes these multi-protein complexes and discusses their contribution towards the regulation of the b-globin gene expression.

The replication initiation pattern of the murine beta-globin locus was analyzed in totipotent embryonic stem cells and in differentiated cell lines. Initiation events in the murine beta-globin locus were detected in a region extending from the embryonic Ey gene to the adult betaminor gene, unlike the restricted initiation observed in the human locus. Totipotent and differentiated cells exhibite...