Distant regulatory sequences affect transcription through long-range chromatin interactions. Visualization of transcriptional activity of genes that compete for distant elements, using the globin locus as a model, has revealed the dynamics of chromatin interactions in vivo. Multiple genes appear to be transcribed alternately rather than at the same time to generate several messenger RNAs in one cell. The regulator may stably complex with one gene at a time and switch back and forth between genes in a flip-flop mechanism.