The results of this study contrast sharply with the generally accepted view of the key roles that these epigenetic marks play
in regulating gene expression.
Specifically, the study reveals a mechanism that helps explain how dividing cells pass patterns of epigenetic information called methyl tags to their daughter cells, a crucial part
of regulating gene expression across cell generations.
PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE: Andrew Z. Fire of the Stanford University School of Medicine and Craig C. Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, for their 1998 discovery of RNA interference,
which regulates gene expression and helps defend cells against viruses.
Enzymes that chemically modify DNA, known as DNA methyltranferases, play critical roles in
regulating gene expression during development, but their role in cancer formation is less clear.
It is a crucial network in the nucleus, providing mechanical support to the nucleus and
also regulating gene expression by making some areas of the genome less or more available to be transcribed into messenger RNA.
«We are only scratching the surface of what could be critical as yet unrecognized mechanisms by which
cells regulate gene expression» says co-principal investigator and ICREA research professor at CNAG - CRG, Marc A. Martí - Renom.
The structural descriptions of human PRC2 with its natural partners in the cell lend important insight into the mechanism by which the PRC2
complex regulates gene expression.
Epigenetics regulates gene expression in a reversible manner by chemically modifying DNA and histone proteins, which prevent permanent mutations or alterations within the gene themselves.
They correspond to DNA's major and minor grooves, where proteins interact with the DNA to carry out biological processes such
as regulating gene expression.
Not only is RNAi used to
regulate gene expression within an organism, it also can combat viral infection by silencing the activity of viral genes required for the pathogen's replication.
«These findings underscore the significance of Gcn5 -
regulated gene expression coupled with the metabolic enzyme alpha - KGDH in tumor cell proliferation and formation.»
«Although the medical applications utilizing
light regulated gene expression are in the distant future, the first applications will be probably found among life science basic research areas which are in the need of accurate control of gene function» Dr. Rossi says.
Their findings, described in and featured on the cover of the current issue of Genes and Development, reveal that many of these lncRNAs in the
lung regulate gene expression by opening and closing the DNA scaffolding on neighboring genes.
Many factors are involved in controlling which genes get transcribed into messenger RNA and when, but RNA binding proteins interact with the messenger RNA itself to
regulate gene expression after transcription has occurred.
The fundamental question he raises in his research is how lipid
signaling regulates gene expression and how a changing extra - and intracellular lipid environment impacts the expression of the genome and contributes to changing cellular phenotypes.
Dr. Loftus» research is aimed at understanding how the human
genome regulates gene expression, with a focus on how this controls the cellular processes governing mammalian development.
While the role that DNA - binding proteins play in
regulating gene expression at the transcriptional level is well studied, how RNA - binding proteins control gene expression at the post-transcriptional level is less clear.
The Wasserman laboratory focuses on the creation, evaluation and application of computational methods for the analysis of genome sequences, with international strength in the study of cis - regulatory
elements regulating gene expression.
MicroRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have the capacity to
regulate gene expression programs, and their differential expression within immune cells highlights their potential in defining immune cell identity and function.
In the new study, Burrows and colleagues focused on the protein HIC1, or «Hypermethylated in cancer 1, «so named because it was first identified in cancer cells; however, it also
helps regulate gene expression in normal cells.
Our findings support the existence of ribosomes with distinct protein composition and physiological function that represent an explored layer
of regulating gene expression.
This RNA does not code for a protein but is highly conserved by evolution, occurring in many species, and is involved in
regulating gene expression during human development and cancer.
MAPKs (Mitogen - Activated Protein Kinases), which help the cell to respond to stress and inflammation, are vital in nature, but
also regulate gene expression and survival.