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Chromosomes

One ring to bind them

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 9, pages 588–589 (2008)Cite this article

...single cohesin rings embrace and hold sister chromatids together.

The cohesin complex components Smc1 and Smc3 interact via their 'hinge' domains at one end of each molecule and bind, respectively, to the C terminus and N terminus of another subunit, Scc1, through their ATPase 'heads', thereby forming a tripartite ring complex. If the ring hypothesis is correct, it should be possible to covalently crosslink the adjacent subunits of the ring and trap the sister DNA molecules into a chemically circularized cohesin ring, even after protein denaturation. To test this hypothesis, the authors cleverly designed a fully functional cohesin variant in which the Smc1–Smc3 and Smc1–Scc1 interfaces could be chemically joined by crosslinkers, and the Scc1 and Smc3 subunits were produced as one fusion protein. When the authors isolated minichromosomes from a yeast strain that contained the cohesin variant and chemically induced the closure of the ring, they found that a fraction of circular DNA dimers remained held together even after exposure to protein denaturing agents.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Haering, C. H. et al. The cohesin ring concatenates sister DNA molecules. Nature 2 July 2008 (doi: 10.1038/nature07098)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Hirano, T. At the heart of the chromosome: SMC proteins in action. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 7, 311–322 (2006)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

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Authors
  1. Francesca Cesari
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Cesari, F. One ring to bind them. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 9, 588–589 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2461

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2461

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