The transcription of chromatin templates.

Genetic and biochemical approaches have recently been used to demonstrate the pivotal role of chromatin structure in gene regulation at two levels of organization. The three-dimensional folding of DNA mediated by chromatin structural proteins over several hundred base pairs has been shown to be critical for the local control of both transcriptional activation and repression. Nuclear domains also exist in which the further long-range organization of chromatin over 5-50 kb exerts a global control on the transcription process.