Histones News and Research

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New approach uses engineered yeast cells to study proteins that regulate gene expression

Researchers have developed a more efficient platform for studying proteins that play a key role in regulating gene expression. The approach uses engineered yeast cells to produce enzyme and histone proteins, conduct biochemical assays internally, and then display the results.

2 Jul 2021

Study explains the rapid adaptation of plants to changing environmental conditions

For a long time, researchers and gardeners have known that plants grow taller and flower sooner when they are surrounded by other close-growing flora.

2 Jul 2021

First real-time observation of DNA-histone interactions

The genetic material of most organisms is carried by DNA, a complex organic molecule. DNA is very long -- for humans, the molecule is estimated to be about 2 m in length.

2 Jun 2021

Study shows that inactivation of BRG1 leads to high genetic instability

Following the p53 tumor suppressor gene, the genes encoding two proteins of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex are the most often identified mutated.

17 May 2021

Cancer cells re-organize DNA structure to ramp up the activity of oncogenes

A lot of biological mechanisms go wrong in cancer—for example genes mutate and cells proliferate in an uncontrollable manner.

11 May 2021

Researchers study the unique genomic organization of coral symbionts

According to recent findings, the genome of single-celled plankton, called dinoflagellates, is arranged in an extremely unusual and strange manner. The study results set the foundations for further research into these vital aquatic species and significantly broaden the understanding of what a eukaryotic genome can look like.

3 May 2021

DNAJC9 protein plays a key role in protecting histones in the cell nucleus

Histones play an important role in the cell nucleus by packaging DNA into chromatin.

15 Apr 2021

New method helps map the epigenetics of mouse brain

Histones are essentially small proteins that attach to DNA and store information that can be used to switch individual genes on or off.

14 Apr 2021

Targeting epigenetic mechanisms to advance pharmacological treatments for alcoholism

Abusive alcohol drinking considerably impacts human health. Alcoholism, better defined as Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD), includes a group of pathological entities related to alcohol-induced damage.

1 Apr 2021

Researchers program genome tool to target specific histone proteins

If finding a needle in a haystack is hard enough, then one should try finding a particular molecule on the needle.

11 Feb 2021

LEAFY protein licenses cell reprogramming to floral fate

Cells don't express all the genes they contain all the time. The portion of our genome that encodes eye color, for example, doesn't need to be turned on in liver cells. In plants, genes encoding the structure of a flower can be turned off in cells that will form a leaf.

28 Jan 2021

Researchers use heat map data to reverse engineer chromosome models

Genome analysis can provide information on genes and their location on a strand of DNA, but such analysis reveals little about their spatial location in relation to one another within chromosomes -- the highly complex, three-dimensional structures that hold genetic information.

15 Jan 2021

New model helps assess the effect of epigenetic changes on gene expression

Researchers have developed a mathematical model to quantitatively assess the impacts of particular epigenetic changes on the transcription rates.

11 Dec 2020

Glyphosate could be used as biomarkers to predict incurring diseases in future generations

Exposure to the widely used weed-killer glyphosate makes genetic changes to rats that can be linked to increased disease in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a new study has found.

10 Dec 2020

Repair proteins can help healthy cells to avoid damage during cancer therapy

A key way radiation therapy and chemotherapy work is by making highly lethal double-strand breaks in the DNA of cancer cells.

10 Dec 2020

DNA structural changes play key role in the recovery phase after DNA damage

A research team from Cologne has discovered that a change in the DNA structure - more precisely in the chromatin - plays a decisive role in the recovery phase after DNA damage. The key is a double occupation by two methyl groups on the DNA packaging protein histone H3 (H3K4me2).

15 Oct 2020