Shaping the tree of DNA's regulators
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 13:49
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- In each cell of the human body, more than six feet of DNA are carefully tucked into the tiny nucleus by wrapping around proteins called histones, resembling beads on a string. But histones are more than spools around which the DNA thread winds. Through chemical tags on their surface, histones can regulate activity of the genome, turning genes on or off by regulating how tightly DNA is compacted.