Regulatory Genes & Enhancers

ScienceMatters @ Berkeley. Fly Guy: "Regulatory DNA, Levine explains, controls how and where a gene is expressed in a cell. Of the three types of regulatory DNA--enhancer, silencer, and insulator--'enhancers are king, activating gene expression in specific cell types for specific tissues,' he says. Scientists conservatively estimate that while the human genome has less than 30,000 genes, it may contain 100,000 enhancers at the minimum. So far, just 50 or so have been identified."