T Ranscription Regulation in Development and Disease

Opening Remark We use molecularand biochemicalcell-systems as well as transgenic mice and gene targeting approaches to investigate how differential gene expression patterns are established and maintained during mammalian development and under disease conditions. We address this question through investigating the biology of SOD1 and two transcription factors Runx1 and Runx3 (Fig. 1). The RUNX transcription factors are master regulator of lineage specific gene expression in developmental pathways. SOD1 and RUNX1 reside on human chromosome 21 and are possibly involve in ALS and in Down syndrome leukemia whereas RUNX3 reside on chromosome 1 at a region known to be involved in several human diseases. Below is a spotlight account summarizing our approach to the issue “how transcription regulators are regulated”.