Orphanides G, Reinberg D
Zeneca Central Toxicology Laboratory, Alderley Park, Cheshire, UK.
Nature. 2000 Sep 28;407(6803):471-5. doi: 10.1038/35035000.
The machinery that transcribes protein-coding genes in eukaryotic cells must contend with repressive chromatin structures in order to find its target DNA sequences. Diverse arrays of proteins modify the structure of chromatin at gene promoters to help transcriptional regulatory proteins access their DNA recognition sites. The way in which disruption of chromatin structure at a promoter is transmitted through a whole gene has not been defined. Recent breakthroughs suggest that the passage of an RNA polymerase through a gene is coupled to mechanisms that propagate the breakdown of chromatin.
真核细胞中负责转录蛋白质编码基因的机制必须应对抑制性染色质结构，以便找到其目标DNA序列。多种蛋白质阵列会修饰基因启动子处的染色质结构，以帮助转录调节蛋白进入其DNA识别位点。启动子处染色质结构的破坏是如何通过整个基因传递的，目前尚未明确。最近的突破表明，RNA聚合酶通过基因的过程与传播染色质分解的机制相关联。
