A novel intergenic enhancer that regulates expression in developing cortical neurons.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuronal differentiation and survival and is implicated in the pathogenesis of many neurological disorders. Here, we identified a novel intergenic enhancer located 170 kb from the gene, which promotes the expression of transcript variants during mouse neuronal differentiation and activity. Following activation, enhancer-promoter contacts increase, and the region moves away from the repressive nuclear periphery. enhancer activity is necessary for neuronal clustering and dendritogenesis , and for cortical development . Our findings provide the first evidence of a regulatory mechanism whereby the activation of a distal enhancer promotes expression during brain development.