Dissection of coordinated stress responses by novel promoter elements with enhancer activity (WP1)
We recently demonstrated that a subset of gene promoters, termed Epromoters, works “also” as bona fide enhancers and regulate distal gene expression. Subsequently, we found that Epromoters play a key role in the coordination of rapid gene induction in the stress response, in particular during inflammation. The ESR will study the functional role of Epromoters in different stress and inflammatory conditions, determine their impact in genome topology, and establish in vivo models to assess Epromoter variation in inflammatory diseases. This systematic approach will unravel the basic molecular mechanisms of this novel type of regulatory elements and shed the basis of their potential involvement in diseases.