Qi He-Yuan, Zhang Zhao-Jun, Li Ya-Juan, Fang Xiang-Dong
Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yi Chuan. 2011 Dec;33(12):1291-9. doi: 10.3724/sp.j.1005.2011.01291.
Gene expression in eukaryotes is regulated at multiple levels, which involves various cis-regulatory elements and trans-acting factors at transcriptional level. In addition, DNA methylation and histone modifications also play crucial roles in epigenetic regulation of eukaryotic genes. It is pivotal for evaluating the regulation of gene expression to understand the structural properties and spatial organization of chromatin at 3-D level. The dynamic alternations of chromatin conformation can either activate gene expression by facilitating the interactions between enhancers or other cis-regulatory elements and their target genes or suppress gene expression by blocking the interactions due to steric hindrance. Although the precise molecular mechanisms underlying the gene regulation via conformational changes of chromatin remain obscure, epigenetic studies including histone modification, nucleosome positioning, chromosome territories as well as chromatin interactions, have provided accumulating evidence to demonstrate the significance of chromatin conformation in eukaryotic gene regulation. Here, we reviewed the recent advances on the role of dynamic alterations of chromatin in gene regulation , which occur at different levels from the primary structure to three dimensional conformation.
真核生物中的基因表达在多个水平上受到调控，这在转录水平涉及各种顺式调控元件和反式作用因子。此外，DNA甲基化和组蛋白修饰在真核基因的表观遗传调控中也起着关键作用。在三维水平上了解染色质的结构特性和空间组织对于评估基因表达的调控至关重要。染色质构象的动态变化既可以通过促进增强子或其他顺式调控元件与其靶基因之间的相互作用来激活基因表达，也可以通过空间位阻阻断相互作用来抑制基因表达。尽管通过染色质构象变化进行基因调控的精确分子机制仍不清楚，但包括组蛋白修饰、核小体定位、染色体区域以及染色质相互作用在内的表观遗传学研究已经提供了越来越多的证据，证明染色质构象在真核基因调控中的重要性。在此，我们综述了染色质动态变化在基因调控中作用的最新进展，这些变化发生在从一级结构到三维构象的不同水平上。
