Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

GENE REGULATION

Switching from fetal to adult hemoglobin

Nature Genetics volume 50, pages 478–480 (2018)Cite this article

Subjects

The switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin relies on repression or silencing of the upstream γ-globin gene, but identification of the transcriptional repressors that bind to the sites at which a cluster of naturally occurring variants associated with HPFH (hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin) are found has been elusive. A new study provides mechanistic evidence for the direct binding of BCL11A and ZBTB7A, two previously identified γ-globin gene repressors.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Point mutations in γ-globin gene promoters disrupt binding of transcriptional repressors, resulting in elevated fetal hemoglobin levels in adulthood.

References

  1. Stamatoyannopoulos, G. Exp. Hematol. 33, 259–271 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Thein, S. L., Menzel, S., Lathrop, M. & Garner, C. Hum. Mol. Genet. 18, R216–R223 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Giardine, B. et al. Nat. Genet. 43, 295–301 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Xu, J. et al. Genes Dev. 24, 783–798 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Jawaid, K., Wahlberg, K., Thein, S. L. & Best, S. Blood Cells Mol. Dis. 45, 140–146 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Martyn, G. E. et al. Nat. Genet. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0085-0 (2018).

  7. Menzel, S. et al. Nat. Genet. 39, 1197–1199 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Uda, M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 105, 1620–1625 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bauer, D. E. et al. Science 342, 253–257 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Xu, J. et al. Science 334, 993–996 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Canver, M. C. et al. Nature 527, 192–197 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Maeda, T. et al. Nature 433, 278–285 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Masuda, T. et al. Science 351, 285–289 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hoban, M. D., Orkin, S. H. & Bauer, D. E. Blood 127, 839–848 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Traxler, E. A. et al. Nat. Med. 22, 987–990 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute/NIH, Sickle Cell Branch, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Xunde Wang & Swee Lay Thein

Authors
  1. Xunde Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Swee Lay Thein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Swee Lay Thein.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, X., Thein, S. Switching from fetal to adult hemoglobin. Nat Genet 50, 478–480 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0094-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0094-z

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing