Study reveals mechanism behind enzyme that tags unneeded DNA
Thursday, February 18, 2016 - 15:01
in Biology & Nature
The two-step process that activates an essential human enzyme, called Suv39h1, which is responsible for organizing large portions of the DNA found in every living cell, has been revealed by new research. Mistakes in packing DNA jeopardizes the stability of chromosomes and can result in severe diseases. Suv39h1 is one of the main enzymes that chemically mark the irrelevant regions of DNA to be compacted by cellular machinery, but little has been known about how it installs its tag until now.