Interactive explorer
Gene regulation explorer
Build intuition for combinatorial control — not a single universal circuit for every gene.
What this explorer teaches
Interactive conceptual map of promoters, enhancers, transcription factors, and chromatin accessibility.
Learning goal: Connect DNA-binding logic to chromatin context without overclaiming deterministic switches.
Interactive model
Educational model — simplified for learning. Not medical advice. Features are conceptual and not drawn to molecular scale unless stated.
Promoter
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Text-only walkthrough (same content as the interactive steps)
- Promoter
- Enhancer
- Transcription factors
- Accessibility
Guided steps (text)
- Step 1: Promoter
- Step 2: Enhancer
- Step 3: Transcription factors
- Step 4: Accessibility
How to use this explorer
- Advance with Next / Previous, the step chips, or keyboard ← →.
- On touch devices, tap chips and buttons (minimum comfortable target size).
- If you prefer reduced motion, the site respects
prefers-reduced-motionand jumps between states without animation. - Screen-reader / keyboard users: focus stays on controls; the live region announces the current step.
Scientific notes & limits
Promoters, enhancers, transcription factors, and chromatin accessibility cooperate in combinatorial ways. No single cartoon captures every gene. This explorer builds vocabulary and intuition, not a universal regulatory circuit.
Related lessons
- Gene regulation — Gene regulation controls when, where, and how much gene products are made.
- Transcription — Transcription synthesizes RNA from a DNA template using RNA polymerase.
- Enhancer — An enhancer is a regulatory DNA element that increases transcription of a target gene, often from a distance.
- Promoter — A promoter is a regulatory DNA region where transcription machinery assembles to start transcription.