An enhancer trap is a method in

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and phys ...

. The enhancer trap construct contains a

transposable element A transposable element (TE, transposon, or jumping gene) is a nucleic acid sequence in DNA that can change its position within a genome, sometimes creating or reversing mutations and altering the cell's genetic identity and genome size. Trans ...

and a

reporter gene In molecular biology, a reporter gene (often simply reporter) is a gene that researchers attach to a regulatory sequence of another gene of interest in bacteria, cell culture, animals or plants. Such genes are called reporters because the char ...

. The first is necessary for (random) insertion in the genome, the latter is necessary for identification of the spatial regulation by the enhancer. On top of this, the construct usually includes a

genetic marker A genetic marker is a gene or DNA sequence with a known location on a chromosome that can be used to identify individuals or species. It can be described as a variation (which may arise due to mutation or alteration in the genomic loci) that can be ...

, e.g., the white gene producing red-colored eyes in ''

Drosophila ''Drosophila'' () is a genus of flies, belonging to the family Drosophilidae, whose members are often called "small fruit flies" or (less frequently) pomace flies, vinegar flies, or wine flies, a reference to the characteristic of many s ...

'', or ampicillin resistance in ''

E. coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus ''Escher ...

''. The most common and basic enhancer traps are: P /nowiki>lacZ">lacZ.html" ;"title="/nowiki>lacZ">/nowiki>lacZ/nowiki> from the bacterium ''

'' and P

GAL4 The Gal4 transcription factor is a positive regulator of gene expression of galactose-induced genes. This protein represents a large fungal family of transcription factors, Gal4 family, which includes over 50 members in the yeast ''Saccharomyces ...

] from yeast. There exists a large number of fly stocks containing GAL4 insertions and an equally large number of fly stocks containing an UAS DNA sequence followed by a gene of interest, which permits the expression of a large number of genes with different GAL4 "drivers". Rather than generating transgenic flies with the enhancer linked directly to the gene of interest (which takes about a year when starting without the appropriate DNA construct), one transgenic fly is simply mated (crossed) with another transgenic fly.J. A. Fischer, E. Giniger, T. Maniatis and M. Ptashne (1988). GAL4 activates transcription in Drosophila. Nature, 332, pp 853-856.

References

Genetics

See also

References