2004/11/24 by Srinivas Chakravarthy, Young‐Jun Park, Jayanth V. Chodaparambil +2 · 1 citation
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics #DNA Repair Mechanisms #Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2004.11.030
openalex publication_date 2004/11/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
It is now widely recognized that the packaging of genomic DNA, together with core histones, linker histones, and other functional proteins into chromatin profoundly influences nuclear processes such as transcription, replication, DNA repair, and recombination. Whereas earlier structural studies portrayed nucleosomes (the basic repeating unit of chromatin) as monolithic and static macromolecular assemblies, we now know that they are highly dynamic and capable of extensive crosstalk with the cellular machinery. Histone variants have evolved to locally alter chromatin structure, whereas histone chaperones and other cellular factors promote histone exchange and chromatin fluidity. Both of these phenomena likely facilitate interconversion between different chromatin states that show varying degrees of transcriptional activity.