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Chromosomal organization of transcription: in a nutshell

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Abstract

Early studies of transcriptional regulation focused on individual gene promoters defined specific transcription factors as central agents of genetic control. However, recent genome-wide data propelled a different view by linking spatially organized gene expression patterns to chromosomal dynamics. Therefore, the major problem in contemporary molecular genetics concerned with transcriptional gene regulation is to establish a unifying model that reconciles these two views. This problem, situated at the interface of polymer physics and network theory, requires development of an integrative methodology. In this review, we discuss recent achievements in classical model organism E. coli and provide some novel insights gained from studies of a bacterial plant pathogen, D. dadantii. We consider DNA topology and the basal transcription machinery as key actors of regulation, in which activation of functionally relevant genes is coupled to and coordinated with the establishment of extended chromosomal domains of coherent transcription. We argue that the spatial organization of genome plays a fundamental role in its own regulation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Patrick Sobetzko for calculation of genomic melting energy distributions. G. M. thanks the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for financial support (DFG grant MU 1549/11-1). This work was supported in part by the Invited Researcher Grant of INSA de Lyon to G. M. and by an INSA BQR 2016 Grant to S. M.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, INSA-Lyon, CNRS, UMR5240, Microbiologie, Adaptation et Pathogénie, 10 rue Raphaël Dubois, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France

    Sam Meyer, Sylvie Reverchon, William Nasser & Georgi Muskhelishvili

  2. Department of Biology, Agricultural University of Georgia, 240 David Aghmashenebeli Alley, 0159, Tbilisi, Georgia

    Georgi Muskhelishvili

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  1. Sam Meyer
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  2. Sylvie Reverchon
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  3. William Nasser
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  4. Georgi Muskhelishvili
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Correspondence to Georgi Muskhelishvili.

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Communicated by M. Kupiec.

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Meyer, S., Reverchon, S., Nasser, W. et al. Chromosomal organization of transcription: in a nutshell. Curr Genet 64, 555–565 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-017-0785-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-017-0785-5

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