Editor's Summary
14 February 2008
The other face of cohesin
A study of the distribution of cohesin binding sites in the human genome shows that they co-locate with sites for the transcription insulator protein CTCF. Cohesin is well known as a protein that acts as a 'chromosome glue', promoting sister chromatid cohesion during chromosome segregation. This new finding has uncovered a second and independent role for cohesin, facilitating CTCF function by acting as a transcription insulator. The discovery could be of medical relevance as a pointer to pathways that could be involved in 'cohesinopathies' such as Roberts syndrome and Cornelia de Lange syndrome.
News and Views: Molecular biology: Cohesin branches out
The cohesin complex — best known for its role in cell division — does not rest between divisions, and instead participates in regulating gene expression. How it does this is only now becoming clear.
Frank Uhlmann
doi:10.1038/451777a
Article: Cohesin mediates transcriptional insulation by CCCTC-binding factor
Kerstin S. Wendt, Keisuke Yoshida, Takehiko Itoh, Masashige Bando, Birgit Koch, Erika Schirghuber, Shuichi Tsutsumi, Genta Nagae, Ko Ishihara, Tsuyoshi Mishiro, Kazuhide Yahata, Fumio Imamoto, Hiroyuki Aburatani, Mitsuyoshi Nakao, Naoko Imamoto, Kazuhiro Maeshima, Katsuhiko Shirahige & Jan-Michael Peters
doi:10.1038/nature06634
Abstract | Full Text | PDF (1,225K) | Supplementary information
