Tangled in mystery: How 6 feet of DNA squeezes into nearly every cell of our body

[Leonid Mirny, a biophysicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge,] argues that DNA is constantly being slipped through ring-like motor proteins to make loops. This process, called loop extrusion, helps to keep local regions of DNA together, disentangling them from other parts of the genome and even giving shape and structure to the chromosomes.

Scientists have bandied about similar hypotheses for decades, but Mirny’s model…add[s] a new level of molecular detail at a time of explosive growth for research into the 3D structure of the genome. The models neatly explain the data flowing from high-profile projects on how different parts of the genome interact physically….

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But these simple explanations are not without controversy…For one thing, the identity of the molecular machine that forms the loops remains a mystery.

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If Mirny is correct, “it’s a complete revolution in DNA enzymology”, says Kim Nasmyth, a leading chromosome researcher at the University of Oxford, UK. What’s actually powering the loop formation, he adds, “has got to be the biggest problem in genome biology right now”.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: DNA’s secret weapon against knots and tangles

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