New light shed on chromosome fragility
Monday, December 26, 2011 - 18:30
in Biology & Nature
Why are certain chromosome regions prone to breakages? The answer is crucial, as this fragility is involved in the development of tumors. A team from the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire (CNRS, France) has partially lifted the veil on the mystery. Laszlo Tora and his colleagues have discovered that breakages in the longest human genes are due to a phenomenon previously considered improbable in mammalian cells: an interference between two key gene processes, DNA transcription and replication. Published in the review Molecular Cell of 23 December 2011, this work could give rise to novel anti-tumor strategies in the longer term.