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Organization of functional processes in the cell nucleus: The order emerging out of the disorder

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Abstract

In this review, the current views on the spatial organization of the eukaryotic genome, as well as the functional compartmentalization of the cell nucleus, are discussed. The evidence that the genome packed in the 3D space of the cell nucleus is the structural basis for the nucleus compartmentalization are represented. Various mechanisms of mutual positioning of the remote genomic elements and mechanisms of the formation of functional compartments within the cell nucleus are analyzed. A possible role of factors emerging as a result of molecular crowding is also discussed. In the last section, the model, which suggests the important role of stochastic processes in the formation of the so-called genome functional architecture and the assembly of functional compartments in the cell nucleus, is discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    S. V. Razin & A. A. Gavrilov

  2. Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 119334, Russia

    S. V. Razin

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  1. S. V. Razin
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  2. A. A. Gavrilov
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Original Russian Text © S.V. Razin, A.A. Gavrilov, 2015, published in Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Biologiya, 2015, No. 3, pp. 13–20.

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Razin, S.V., Gavrilov, A.A. Organization of functional processes in the cell nucleus: The order emerging out of the disorder. Moscow Univ. Biol.Sci. Bull. 70, 115–121 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0096392515030104

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