PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dalgaard, Jacob Z.
AU  - Vengrova, Sonya
TI  - Selective Gene Expression in Multigene Families from Yeast to Mammals
AID  - 10.1126/stke.2562004re17
DP  - 2004 Oct 26
TA  - Science's STKE
PG  - re17--re17
VI  - 2004
IP  - 256
4099  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2004/256/re17.short
4100  - http://stke.sciencemag.org/content/2004/256/re17.full
SO  - Sci. STKE2004 Oct 26; 2004
AB  - Exclusive gene expression, where only one member of a gene or gene cassette family is selected for expression, plays an important role in the establishment of cell identity in several biological systems. Here, we compare four such systems: mating-type switching in fission and budding yeast, where cells choose between expressing one of the two different mating-type cassettes, and immunoglobulin and odorant receptor gene expression in mammals, where the number of gene choices is substantially higher. The underlying mechanisms that establish this selective expression pattern in each system differ in almost every detail. In all four systems, once a successful gene activation event has taken place, a feedback mechanism affects the fate of the cell. In the mammalian systems, feedback is mediated by the expressed cell surface receptor to ensure monoallelic gene expression, whereas in the yeasts, the expressed gene cassette at the mating-type locus affects donor choice during the subsequent switching event.