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Reading the Human Genome

By Guest PostMarch 10, 2013Scienceautomated data collection, berkeley lab, biomolecular machinery, biophysicist eva nogales, cellular process, central dogma, cryo electron microscopy, cryo em, DNA, dna promoter complex, dylan taatjes, gene sequence, genetic information, human genome, jie fang, malfunctions, molecular biology, paula flicker, pre initiation complex, rna, rna polymerase, rna transcription, structural data, tata binding protein, tbp, transcription, transcription factors, yuan he

Berkeley Lab Researchers Produce First Step-by-Step Look at Transcription Initiation

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have achieved a major advance in understanding how genetic information is transcribed from DNA to RNA by providing the first step-by-step look at the biomolecular machinery that reads the human genome.

“We’ve provided a series of snapshots that shows how the genome is read one gene at a time,” says biophysicist Eva Nogales who led this research. “For the genetic code to be transcribed into messenger RNA, the DNA double helix has to be opened and the strand of gene sequences has to be properly positioned so that RNA polymerase, the enzyme that catalyzes transcription, knows where the gene starts. The electron microscopy images we produced show how this is done.” (more…)

Berkeley Lab Researchers Illuminate Laminin’s Role in Cancer Formation

Laminin, long thought to be only a structural support protein in the microenvironment of breast and other epithelial tissue, is “famous” for its cross-like shape. However, laminin is far more than just a support player with a “pretty face.” Two studies led by one of the world’s foremost breast cancer scientists have shown how laminin plays a central role in the development of breast cancer, the second most leading cause of cancer death among women in the United States. In one study it was shown how laminin influences the genetic information inside a cell’s nucleus. In the other study it was shown how destruction of laminin can play a detrimental role in the early stages of tumor development. (more…)

Tag Archives: transcription

Reading the Human Genome

Berkeley Lab Researchers Illuminate Laminin’s Role in Cancer Formation