![]() ![]() One of the key functions of the nucleoli is to produce ribosomal RNA, a component of ribosomes. These small bodies, which break down at the beginning of cell division and then re-form later in the process, consist of more than a thousand different molecules of RNA and proteins. In the new study, he wanted to extend his modeling to include the nucleoli. Much of Zhang's research focuses on modeling the three-dimensional structure of the genome and analyzing how that structure influences gene regulation. MIT graduate student Yifeng Qi is the lead author of the paper, which appears today in Nature Communications. "This model has inspired us to think that the genome may have gel-like features that could help the system encode important contacts and help further translate those contacts into functional outputs," says Bin Zhang, the Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor of Chemistry at MIT, an associate member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and the senior author of the study. These interactions help control gene expression. Their findings also suggest that chromatin-nuclear body interactions lead the genome to take on a gel-like structure, which helps to promote stable interactions between the genome and transcription machineries. Using computer simulations, MIT chemists have now discovered how these bodies interact with chromosomes in the nucleus, and how those interactions help the nucleoli exist as stable droplets within the nucleus. ![]()
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