Collection articles
The Collection contains recently published review-type articles from the Nature Publishing Group.
Review
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Structure and mechanism of the RNA polymerase II transcription machinery
Journal:Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 11, 394−403 (2004); doi:10.1038/nsmb763
Advances in structure determination of the bacterial and eukaryotic transcription machinery have led to a marked increase in the understanding of the mechanism of transcription. Models for the specific assembly of the RNA polymerase II transcription machinery at a promoter, conformational changes that occur during initiation of transcription, and the mechanism of initiation are discussed in light of recent developments.
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Opinion
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Silence of the genes: mechanisms of long-term repression
Journal:Nature Reviews Genetics 6, 648−654 (2004); doi:10.1038/nrg1639
A large fraction of genes in the mammalian genome is repressed in every cell throughout development. Here, we propose that this long-term silencing is carried out by distinct molecular mechanisms that operate in a global manner and, once established, can be maintained autonomously through DNA replication. Both individually and in combination these mechanisms bring about repression, mainly by lowering gene accessibility through closed chromatin structures.
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Review
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Histone variants meet their match
Journal:Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 6, 139−149 (2005); doi:10.1038/nrm1567
A fascinating aspect of how chromatin structure impacts on gene expression and cellular identity is the transmission of information from mother to daughter cells, independently of the primary DNA sequence. This epigenetic information seems to be contained within the covalent modifications of histone polypeptides and the distinctive characteristics of variant histone subspecies. There are specific deposition pathways for some histone variants, which provide invaluable mechanistic insights into processes whereby the major histones are exchanged for their more specialized counterparts.
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Progress
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Reversing histone methylation
Journal:Nature 436, 1103−1106 (25 August 2005); doi:10.1038/nature04048
Histones package DNA, and post-translational modifications of histones can regulate access to DNA. Until recently, histone methylation − unlike all other histone modifications − was considered a permanent mark. The discovery of enzymes that reverse the methylation of lysines and arginines challenges our current thinking on the unique nature of histone methylation, and substantially increases the complexity of histone modification pathways.
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