Silencing and dna repair connect

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe One of the challenges facing molecular biologists is to explain how the huge amount of DNA within the eukaryotic cell nucleus is packaged

into chromatin, of which chromosomes are composed, and how this packaging affects processes such as DNA replication, transcription and the maintenance of genomic integrity. On page 900 of

this issue1, Tsukamoto, Ka to and Ikeda reveal that three yeast proteins, associated with chromatin and with transcriptional silencing, are also involved in the repair of DNA damage induced

by ionizing radiation. These results provide an unexpected dimension to silencing and chromatin organization, and may yield clues to the mechanism by which DNA double-strand breaks are

rejoined. The fundamental unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, in which DNA is wound around an octamer of the core histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. Interactions with linker histones and various

non-histone proteins provide further DNA compaction, which, in defined regions of the genome, culminates in the highly condensed state termed heterochromatin. Notable features of

heterochromatin are that it is generally transcriptionally silent, is replicated late in S-phase of the cell cycle, is localized to the nuclear periphery, and is relatively inaccessible to

DNA-modifying enzymes2. This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution ACCESS OPTIONS Access through your institution Subscribe to this journal Receive 51 print

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Wellcome/CRC Institute, and the Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Tennis Court Road, CB2 1QR, Cambridge, UK Stephen P. Jackson Authors * Stephen P. Jackson View author

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repair connect. _Nature_ 388, 829–830 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/42136 Download citation * Issue Date: 28 August 1997 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/42136 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you

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