Title: Higher-Order Chromatin Structure and Its Implications for Gene Regulation
Speaker: Sergei Grigoryev, Penn State University College of Medicine
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2003, 1:00 pm
Location: Hill Center, Room 260, Rutgers University, Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ
Abstract:
Coiled coils or folded folds? 50 years since the discovery of DNA double helix, its long-range geometry and the mechanism of its packing in chromosomes and chromatin in a living cell are still poorly understood. I will discuss the existing models for higher-order chromatin organization and recent experimental data that support a non-helical asymmetric folding of DNA in flexible zig-zag arrays of nucleosomes. This model provides new explanations for the molecular mechanisms that open chromatin for transcription and other template-dependent processes. It also poses new questions on the nature of molecular interactions that determine chromatin conformation and regulate gene activity.
Seminar sponsored by DIMACS/BIOMAPS Seminar Series on Quantitative Biology and Epidemiology.