http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/individuo/prodotto/ID26608
Self-assembly and DNA binding of the blocking factor in X chromosome inactivation (Articolo in rivista)
- Type
- Label
- Self-assembly and DNA binding of the blocking factor in X chromosome inactivation (Articolo in rivista) (literal)
- Anno
- 2007-01-01T00:00:00+01:00 (literal)
- Http://www.cnr.it/ontology/cnr/pubblicazioni.owl#doi
- 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030210 (literal)
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- Nicodemi M.; Prisco A. (literal)
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- ISI Web of Science (WOS) (literal)
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- Complexity Science and Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Warwick, United Kingdom,
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Naples, Italy,
Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) \"A. Buzzati Traverso\" (ABT), CNR, Naples, Italy (literal)
- Titolo
- Self-assembly and DNA binding of the blocking factor in X chromosome inactivation (literal)
- Abstract
- X chromosome inactivation (XCI) is the phenomenon occurring in female mammals whereby dosage compensation of X-linked genes is obtained by transcriptional silencing of one of their two X chromosomes, randomly chosen during early embryo development. The earliest steps of random X-inactivation, involving counting of the X chromosomes and choice of the active and inactive X, are still not understood. To explain counting and choice, the longstanding hypothesis is that a molecular complex, a blocking factor (BF), exists. The BF is present in a single copy and can randomly bind to just one X per cell which is protected from inactivation, as the second X is inactivated by default. In such a picture, the missing crucial step is to explain how the molecular complex is self-assembled, why only one is formed, and how it binds only one X. We answer these questions within the framework of a schematic Statistical Physics model, investigated by Monte Carlo computer simulations. We show that a single complex is assembled as a result of a thermodynamic process relying on a phase transition occurring in the system which spontaneously breaks the symmetry between the Xs. We discuss, then, the BF interaction with X chromosomes. The thermodynamics of the mechanism that directs the two chromosomes to opposite fates could be, thus, clarified. The insights on the self-assembling and X binding properties of the BF are used to derive a quantitative scenario of biological implications describing current experimental evidences on counting and choice. (literal)
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