Endocrine Abstracts

Gene expression in living cells is dynamic and unstable, and fluctuations in transcription may be subject to stochastic regulation of processes including transcription factor and polymerase recruitment, and chromatin remodelling. One gene that has been shown to display dynamically variable transcription and marked heterogeneity between cells is prolactin (PRL). Time-lapse imaging of PRL-reporter gene expression in single rat pituitary GH3 cells revealed distinct long-term tran...

Mammalian genes display pulsatile transcription dynamics with bursts of expression occurring with variable duration and frequency. Using the human prolactin gene as a model of tissue specific gene regulation, we have characterised the transcription dynamics of this gene in cell lines, primary cells and pituitary tissue slices. Our data indicate that the tissue environment may have an important influence on cellular transcription activity. Cultures of cells from enzymatically d...