Fruit Fly Studies Guide Investigators to Molecular Mechanism Frequently Misregulated in Human Cancers
Monday, November 19, 2012 - 13:31
in Biology & Nature
Changes in how DNA interacts with histones--the proteins that package DNA--regulate many fundamental cell activities from stem cells maturing into a specific body cell type or blood cells becoming leukemic. These interactions are governed by a biochemical tug of war between repressors and activators, which chemically modify histones signaling them to clamp down tighter on DNA or move aside and allow a gene to be expressed.