Gene associations: true romance or chance meeting in a nuclear neighborhood
Student Authors
Christine Moulton ClemsonUMass Chan Affiliations
Department of Cell BiologyDocument Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2008-09-24Keywords
Blood Cells; *Cell Nucleus; *Chromosomes; Gene Expression Regulation; Globins; Humans; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; RNA Splicing; *Transcription, GeneticCell Biology
Life Sciences
Medicine and Health Sciences
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Many recent studies have raised interest in the nuclear associations of coregulated genes from different chromosomes, often evoking interpretations of gene-gene interactions, communication, and even "romance." However, in some cases, the associations may be indirect and infrequent and may reflect the segregation of active and inactive genes into different nuclear compartments. The study by Brown et al. (see p. 1083 of this issue) reports that the apparent association of erythroid genes is not a direct interaction nor colocalization to one tiny transcription factory but arises as a result of the known clustering of many active genes with larger splicing factor-rich speckles (a.k.a., SC35-defined domains). This clustering appears largely stochastic but is impacted by the chromosomal neighborhood of the gene as well as its transcriptional status. The study adds a new twist by examining the same gene in a foreign chromosomal context, providing evidence that this impacts a gene's propensity to form gene-domain (or apparent gene-gene) associations within nuclei.Source
J Cell Biol. 2008 Sep 22;182(6):1035-8. Link to article on publisher's siteDOI
10.1083/jcb.200808121Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/33010PubMed ID
18809719Related Resources
Link to Article in PubMedae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1083/jcb.200808121