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Cluster Size Determines Morphology of Transcription Factories in Human Cells by Semeraro, Massimiliano; Negro, Giuseppe; Forte, Giada; Suma, Antonio; Gonnella, Giuseppe; Cook, Peter R.; Marenduzzo, Davide is a scholarly article available to read on EtoBox.

What is Cluster Size Determines Morphology of Transcription Factories in Human Cells about?

Transcription is a fundamental cellular process, and the first step of gene expression. In human cells, it depends on the binding to chromatin of various proteins, including RNA polymerases and numerous transcription factors (TFs). Observations indicate that these proteins tend to form macromolecular clusters, known as transcription factories, whose morphology and composition is still debated. While some microscopy experiments have revealed the presence of specialised factories, composed of similar TFs transcribing families of related genes, sequencing experiments suggest instead that mixed clusters may be prevalent, as a panoply of different TFs binds promiscuously the same chromatin region. The mechanisms underlying the formation of specialised or mixed factories remain elusive. With the aim of finding such mechanisms, here we develop a chromatin polymer model mimicking the chromatin binding-unbinding dynamics of different types of complexes of TFs. Surprisingly, both specialised (i.e., demixed) and mixed clusters spontaneously emerge, and which of the two types forms depends mainly on cluster size. The mechanism promoting mixing is the presence of non-specific interactions betwe

Author

Semeraro, Massimiliano; Negro, Giuseppe; Forte, Giada; Suma, Antonio; Gonnella, Giuseppe; Cook, Peter R.; Marenduzzo, Davide

Published

2023

Language

EN