Showing papers on "Scaffold/matrix attachment region published in 1972"
TL;DR: It is hard to imagine that eukaryotes, being presented with such a superb mechanism for controlling DNA transcription, would totally discard it and opt for something different, but several observations suggest that higher organisms may have picked up a number of fundamental genetic tricks from their lowly predecessors.
Abstract: Biochemical and genetic studies have produced a vast fund of knowledge concerning gene action and regulation in prokaryotes In these organisms the DNA is exposed rather nakedly to the world, protected primarily by the cell membrane In eukaryotes the DNA seems far better shielded, being enmeshed in histone and nonhistone proteins and sequestered behind both the cell and the nuclear membrane These differences have led to a considerable degree of caution in the application of this knowledge of prokaryotes to problems of gene regulation in eukaryotes, and rightly so There are, however, several observations which suggest that higher organisms may have picked up a number of fundamental genetic tricks from their lowly predecessors It has frequently been suggested that eukaryotes must do things differently from prokaryotes, until proven otherwise It may be prudent to reverse this line of thought and suggest that they do things the came until proven different The following similarities suggest this (1) T he basic genetic dogmas concerning DNA replication, transcription, andlation are similar, (2) The genetic code is the same (3) Both systems appear to make use of cyclic AMP as a basic mediator for, humoral or diffusible, signals (4) In both systems DNA synthesis may be controlled at membranes (5) Both make use of different types of RNA polymerase and RNA polymerase cofactors (6) Recent studies of polylysine binding to chromatin suggest the eukaryotic DNA may not be so thoroughly enmeshed in Protein as once thought (7) The visualization of genes in action by electron microscopic techniques intimates that genes are spaced and read in a similar manner And finally, (8) merely because the clustering of related genes is unusual in higher organisms is no reason in itself to totally discard the promoter-operator-repressor concept as a way of regulating single structural genes This system has provided an immense amount of data concerning the manner in which proteins interact with specific DNA sequences to control the attachment and utilization of RNA polymerase It is hard to imagine that eukaryotes, being presented with such a superb mechanism for controlling DNA transcription, would totally discard it and opt for something different It is far more likely that they would build on to this solid foundation
257 citations
TL;DR: Neutralization of DNA by basic proteins promotes packing into a regular “crystalline” form and this model can explain the structure and functional organization of chromatins.
Abstract: Neutralization of DNA by basic proteins promotes packing into a regular “crystalline” form. This model can explain the structure and functional organization of chromatins.
44 citations