Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Pathologists recognize and classify cancers according to nuclear morphology, but there remains little scientific explanation of why malignant nuclei possess their characteristic features, or how those features are related to dysregulated function. This essay will discuss a basic structure-function axis that connects one central architectural motif in the nucleus-the chromatin loop-to the vital nuclear function of transcription. The loop is attached to a "transcription factory" through components of the transcription machinery (either polymerases or transcriptional activators/repressors), and the position of a gene within a loop determines how often that gene is transcribed. Then, dysregulated transcription is tightly coupled to alterations in structure, and vice versa. We also speculate on how the experimental approaches being used to analyze loops and factories might be applied to study the problems of tumour initiation and progression.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.semcancer.2012.01.003

Type

Journal article

Journal

Semin Cancer Biol

Publication Date

04/2013

Volume

23

Pages

65 - 71

Keywords

Animals, Chromatin, DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Humans, Models, Biological, Neoplasms, Nucleic Acid Conformation, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Transcription Factors, Transcription, Genetic