Friday, July 28, 2006
Scientists Say They've Found a Code Beyond Genetics in DNA
[New York Times: May require free registration]
Researchers believe they have found a second code in DNA in addition to the genetic code.
The genetic code specifies all the proteins that a cell makes. The second code, superimposed on the first, sets the placement of the nucleosomes, miniature protein spools around which the DNA is looped. The spools both protect and control access to the DNA itself.
The discovery, if confirmed, could open new insights into the higher order control of the genes, like the critical but still mysterious process by which each type of human cell is allowed to activate the genes it needs but cannot access the genes used by other types of cell.
The new code is described in the current issue of Nature by Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute in Israel and Jonathan Widom of Northwestern University in Illinois and their colleagues.
NB The Nature journal article the above refers to is "A genomic code for nucleosome positioning" (Abstract).
technorati tags: new+york+times, dna, genetic, code, proteins, cell, nucleosomes, discovery, genes, nature, weizmann, institute, israel, illinois
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