Abstract
Heterochromatin is characteristically more compact than euchromatin in the eukaryotic genome. The establishment of heterochromatin is mediated by special histone modifications, recruitment and propagation of heterochromatin specific proteins, as well as formation of special primary and high order structures of chromatin. Chromatin remodeling factors are ATPases that can alter the conformation and/or positioning of nucleosomes along DNA in an ATP-dependent manner. There is increasing evidence implicating chromatin remodeling activities in heterochromatin in various organisms ranging from yeasts to humans. Chromatin remodeling factors play roles in the establishment, maintenance and epigenetic inheritance of heterochromatin, but the underlying molecular mechanisms have just begun to be investigated.
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Biographical Sketch Dr. Bi Xin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA. He obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1988. As a CUSBEA fellow, Dr. Bi joined the graduate program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA in 1989. He earned a Ph.D. degree in biological chemistry in 1994. Dr. Bi then trained as a post-doctoral fellow at Princeton University, before joining the Biochemistry Department of University of Nebraska-Lincoln as an Assistant Professor in 2000. He moved to University of Rochester in 2003. His lab is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the structure and function of heterochromatin in the yeast model organism. Dr. Bi teaches the upper level undergraduate (and graduate) course of Eukaryotic Gene Regulation.
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Bi, X. Functions of chromatin remodeling factors in heterochromatin formation and maintenance. Sci. China Life Sci. 55, 89–96 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-012-4267-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11427-012-4267-1