Nucleoprotein architecture of the albumin transcriptional enhancer.

Studies of the serum albumin gene have shown that in the active state, its tissue-specific enhancer is organized with transcription factors into nucleoprotein structures that appear nucleosomal. Thus, the organization of chromatin components, and not their disruption or absence, is intrinsic to enhancer activity. Mechanisms for creating the nucleosome-like array are discussed with regard to the developmental control of cell-specific gene expression.