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Gene regulation

Versatile assembler

Nature volume 423, pages 815–817 (2003)Cite this article

The protein machines that assemble and remodel chromosomal proteins often contain a common component. The role of this component in maintaining stability during development is now revealed.

No handyman would be without WD-40, the penetrating oil that stops squeaks, loosens rusted parts and protects against corrosion. The impressive versatility of WD-40 puts it in a class with the Swiss army knife; however, unlike the knife, which sports a collection of specialized modules, the oil is applied in a similar way to perform each different task. An analogous situation appears to hold for a member of the WD-40 protein family. The protein in question resembles its household namesake in displaying a surprising amount of versatility: it is found in several protein machines that apparently act in different ways on chromatin, a packaged form of DNA. Researchers studying this WD-40 protein suspect that it too, like the oil, functions in the same way to carry out these different tasks — but just how it works and why it is found in such diverse complexes is a mystery. Hennig and colleagues' study of a mutant plant, described in a recent issue of Development1, could provide a crucial clue.

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Figure 1: Chromatin assembly on new DNA.

NCBI

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  1. the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, 98109, Washington, USA

    Steven Henikoff

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  1. Steven Henikoff
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Correspondence to Steven Henikoff.

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Henikoff, S. Versatile assembler. Nature 423, 815–817 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/423814a

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