Expression of the type II voltage-dependent sodium channel gene is restricted to neurons by a silencer element active in nonneuronal cells. We have cloned cDNA coding for a transcription factor (REST) that binds to this silencer element. Expression of a recombinant REST protein confers the ability to silence type II reporter genes in neuronal cell types lacking the native REST protein, whereas ...

A numerical technique is developed for the analysis of dissipative silencers of arbitrary, but axially uniform, cross section. Mean gas flow is included in a central airway that is separated from a bulk reacting porous material by a concentric perforate screen. The analysis begins by employing the finite element method to extract the eigenvalues and associated eigenvectors for a silencer of inf...

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae the HM loci and regions adjacent to the telomeres are transcriptionally silent. HML is situated 11 kb from the left telomere of chromosome III. I have systematically examined gene silencing along this 11-kb chromosomal region. I found that silencing extends at least 1.1 kb beyond HML, indicating that the HML E silencer acts on both sides. Moreover, I obtained evidenc...

A silencer to attenuate engine exhaust noise using active control methods is developed. The device consists of an electrically driven valve, combined with a buffer volume, which is connected to the exhaust outlet. Using the mean flow through the valve and the pressure fluctuations in the volume, the valve regulates the flow in such a way that only the mean flow passes through the exhaust outlet...

Abbreviat ions : adrenocorticotrophic hormone, (ACTH); casein kinase I, (CKI); Cdc2-like kinase, (Clk); Concanavalin A, (ConA); cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, (CFTR); epidermal growth factor, (EGF); exonic splicing enhancer, (ESE); exonic splicing silencer, (ESS); fibroblast growth factor, (FGF); heterogeneous nuclear protein, (hnRNP); interferon, (IFN); interleukin, (IL);...

Morphogen gradients control body pattern by differentially regulating cellular behavior. Here, we analyze the molecular events underlying the primary response to the Dpp/BMP morphogen in Drosophila. Throughout development, Dpp transduction causes the graded transcriptional downregulation of the brinker (brk) gene. We first provide significance for the brk expression gradient by showing that dif...

Once they have differentiated, cells retain their individual character and repress genes that are specifically expressed in other cell lineages, but how alternative fate choice is restricted during and/or after differentiation remains unclear. In the mammalian central nervous system, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes are generated throughout life from common tripotent neural progenitor ...

The spatial and temporal control of gene expression during the development of multicellular organisms is regulated to a large degree by cell-cell signaling. We have uncovered a simple mechanism through which Dpp, a TGFbeta/BMP superfamily member in Drosophila, represses many key developmental genes in different tissues. A short DNA sequence, a Dpp-dependent silencer element, is sufficient to co...