Antoine Peters and his group at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) have elucidated the mechanisms controlling the packaging of chromatin in the early embryo. They have ...

The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI. In the eukaryotic nucleus, accessible euchromatin facilitates transcriptional activity whereas compact heterochromatin maintains ...

To fit the two-meter long DNA molecule into a cell nucleus that is only a few thousandths of a millimetre in size, long sections of the DNA must be strongly compacted. Epigenetic marks maintain these ...

Heterochromatin, sometimes known as the “dark side of the genome,” is a poorly studied fraction of DNA that makes up about half of our genetic material. For more than 50 years scientists have puzzled ...

A recent study In Press at the Journal of Cell Biology reports that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) exploits heterochromatin to successfully exit the nucleus. The heterochromatin markers macroH2A1 and ...

A team led by researchers at Osaka University finds that extra-tight packaging of genomic material helps prevent large chromosomal rearrangements that can lead to cancer Although many people are aware ...

Large changes in the structure of chromosomes are usually fatal for the cell or can lead to genetic diseases such as cancer. Many large chromosomal rearrangements stem from short runs of repeated DNA ...

Modification of histone tails, by acetylation, methylation or phosphorylation, affects the local chromatin structure and the transcriptional regulation of adjacent genes. Pericentric heterochromatin ...

Chromatin consists of the DNA molecule and numerous proteins, including histones, which act as packaging proteins. In contrast to the easily accessible euchromatin, which contains the majority of ...

This press release is available in German. To fit the two-meter long DNA molecule into a cell nucleus that is only a few thousandths of a millimetre in size, long sections of the DNA must be strongly ...