Molecular Cell: Special microscope helps understand new forces shaping the genome

Advances in microscopy technology allowed researchers to depict the circular structure of DNA strands for the first time

A new study published in the journal Molecular Cell also reveals that the process by which DNA is copied into RNA—transcription—indirectly shapes the structure of the genome

This force is called "supercoiling," and it causes a structural protein called cohesive protein to "surf" on the DNA strand, changing the structure of the scaffold and changing the overall shape of the genome

According to the researchers, the discovery of this new force may have future implications for understanding genetic diseases, such as Cornelia De Lange syndrome, which is caused by mutations in genes encoding cohesive proteins or cohesive protein regulators.

Researchers have studied the biological mechanism that can compress two meters of DNA into the small space of each human cell

According to CRG staff and first author Vicky Neguembor, “The chromatin loop enables individual cells to turn on and off different information, which is why neurons or muscle cells with the same genomic information still behave so differently

"Our discovery is important because it shows that the biological process of transcription plays an additional role in addition to the basic task of creating RNA that is ultimately converted into protein

Previous techniques used to study this process can predict the location of the loops, but not their actual shape or how they look inside the cell

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