Biophysical Reviews

, Volume 8, Supplement 1, pp 75–87 | Cite as

DNA supercoiling during transcription

Review
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Accepted:

Abstract

The twin-supercoiled-domain model describes how transcription can drive DNA supercoiling, and how DNA supercoiling, in turn, plays an important role in regulating gene transcription. In vivo and in vitro experiments have disclosed many details of the complex interactions in this relationship, and, recently, new insights have been gained with the help of genome-wide DNA supercoiling mapping techniques and single-molecule methods. This review summarizes the general mechanisms of the interplay between DNA supercoiling and transcription, considers the biological implications, and focuses on recent important discoveries and technical advances in this field. We highlight the significant impact of DNA supercoiling in transcription, but also more broadly in all processes operating on DNA.

Keywords

Transcription Gene regulation Supercoiling Chromatin Torque Mechanics 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (MCB-1517764 to M.D.W.) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (15lgjc15 to J.M.)

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

None.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by the authors.

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Copyright information

© International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB) and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of PhysicsSun Yat-Sen UniversityGuangzhouPeople’s Republic of China
  2. 2.State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and TechnologiesSun Yat-Sen UniversityGuangzhouPeople’s Republic of China
  3. 3.Department of Physics—Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State PhysicsCornell UniversityIthacaUSA
  4. 4.Howard Hughes Medical InstituteCornell UniversityIthacaUSA

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