Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Henry A. Hoff
A dispersed promoter is a region of DNA that facilitates the transcription of a particular gene, where this promoter region contains "several start sites over 50–100 nucleotides and [is] typically found in CpG islands in vertebrates".[1] "CpGs are ... relatively enriched around the TSS. In fact, the enrichment pattern peaks sharply close to the core promoter 15 bp upstream of the TSS".[2] Normally a C (cytosine) base followed immediately by a G (guanine) base (a CpG) is rare in vertebrate DNA because the cytosines in such an arrangement tend to be methylated.
"[I]n vertebrates dispersed promoters are more common than focused promoters."[1]
Dispersed promoters are more recent and less widespread throughout nature than focused promoters.[1]