Ubiquitous Chromatin-opening Elements (UCOEs) are defined by their ability to consistently confer stable, site of integration-independent transgene expression that is proportional to copy number, including from within regions of heterochromatin such as centromeres. UCOEs structurally consist of methylation-free CpG islands encompassing single or dual divergently-transcribed housekeeping gene promoters. Since their discovery in 1999, UCOEs and their sub-fragments have found applications in areas of biotechnology requiring stable, reproducible, and high levels of gene expression. This review recounts the discovery of UCOEs and examines their current and future applications in protein therapeutic biomanufacturing and gene therapy.

普遍存在的染色质开放元件（UCOE）的定义是，它们始终如一地赋予稳定的，不依赖整合的转基因表达位点，该位点与拷贝数成正比，包括异染色质区域内的着丝粒，如着丝粒。UCOE在结构上由无甲基化的CpG岛组成，其中包含单或双发散转录的管家基因启动子。自从1999年发现以来，UCOE及其亚片段已在需要稳定，可再现和高水平基因表达的生物技术领域中得到应用。这篇综述叙述了UCOEs的发现，并考察了它们在蛋白质治疗生物制造和基因治疗中的当前和未来应用。