Lectures and seminars Guest seminar - Takashi Fukaya
Title: “Dynamics of ultra-long-range enhancer-promoter communication in early embryos”.
Monday, June 22 at 10:30 in room D1012, Biomedicum.
Welcome to a guest seminar by Takashi Fukaya
Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Department of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
Enhancers regulate gene expression over large genomic distances, yet the mechanisms linking 3D genome organization to transcriptional output remain unclear. To address this question, we combine quantitative live-imaging, genome-editing, and super-resolution microscopy to directly visualize enhancer-promoter communication and transcriptional activity in living Drosophila embryos at single-cell resolution.
We recently developed a high-resolution live-imaging framework that enables direct visualization of inter-allelic, ultra-long-range enhancer-promoter communication (i.e., transvection) in living Drosophila embryos. Our analyses reveal a stepwise mechanism of gene activation. Distal enhancers and target promoters first establish a tight physical association, forming a 3D chromosomal configuration permissive for activation. This is followed by dynamic clustering of transcriptional activators, which drives transcriptional bursting and induces a transition from tight to more relaxed enhancer-promoter physical proximity. These findings reconcile seemingly conflicting “looping” and “hub” models by showing that proximity-dependent and proximity-independent mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, but instead act sequentially to modulate long-range regulatory communication in living cells.
In this seminar, I will discuss how direct visualization of enhancer-promoter dynamics provides new insights into the interplay between 3D genome organization and transcriptional control during animal development.
Publications
Transient residence of the repulsive client Shutdown in Yb bodies plays a critical role in Piwi-piRISC biogenesis and maintaining fertility.
Hirakata S, Fukaya T, Fujita A, Kosako H, Siomi MC
Mol Cell 2026 Apr;86(7):1345-1361.e9
Decoding the molecular logic of rapidly evolving ZAD zinc finger proteins in Drosophila.
Saito R, Umemura Y, Makino S, Fukaya T
Sci Adv 2026 Feb;12(9):eady7568
Regulatory landscape of enhancer-mediated transcriptional activation.
Kawasaki K, Fukaya T
Trends Cell Biol 2024 Oct;34(10):826-837
Functional coordination between transcription factor clustering and gene activity.
Kawasaki K, Fukaya T
Mol Cell 2023 May;83(10):1605-1622.e9
Dynamic interplay between non-coding enhancer transcription and gene activity in development.
Hamamoto K, Umemura Y, Makino S, Fukaya T
Nat Commun 2023 Feb;14(1):826