Activator-promoter compatibility in mammals - Hcfc1 is a key and intrinsically CGI-promoter-specific co-activator that cannot activate non-CGI promoters. Lead by @nemcko.bsky.social & Kevin Sabath in collab. with @plaschkalab.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/2)
Join @stirlingchurchman.bsky.social,
@moffittlab.bsky.social, @saramostafavi.bsky.social, me and all speakers for the 2026 CSHL meeting Systems Biology: Global Regulation of Gene Expression, March 11-14. Abstract deadline January 9! More infos and registration at meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...
Alex Stark
Our preprint "Predictive design of tissue-specific mammalian enhancers that function in vivo in the mouse embryo" is on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... . Amazing collaboration by @shenzhichen1999.bsky.social, Vincent Loubiere (@impvienna.bsky.social,@viennabiocenter.bsky.social),... (1/2)
Using Hcfc1 as a model, we show it functions as a molecular bridge: it connects CGI-bound TFs directly to TFIID. This recruitment overcomes a rate-limiting step unique to CGI promoters, enabling transcription initiation. 🧬🌉
Enhancers control tissue-specific gene expression across metazoans. Although deep learning has enabled enhancer prediction and design in mammalian cell lines and invertebrate systems, it remains uncle...
www.biorxiv.org
Do transcriptional activators work on any promoter? Our data says no. 🙅♂️
Despite driving ~2/3 of mammalian genes, CpG island (CGI) promoters have remained a puzzle. We identified >50 activators that are exclusively compatible with this promoter class. 🧬
Alex Stark
Alex Stark
Read the full story in our preprint! 👇
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excited to share this work with my co-first author Kevin Sabath - a fantastic collaboration between the
@alex-stark.bsky.social and @plaschkalab.bsky.social labs! 🤝🧪
Filip Nemcko
Filip Nemcko
Filip Nemcko
Transcription from CpG island (CGI) promoters controls the expression of two-thirds of mammalian genes, yet despite their prevalence, it remains unknown whether CGI-specific co-activators with intrins...
