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Keywords

histones, nucleosomes, epigenetics, gene expression

Abstract

Chromatin structure and composition play a significant role in regulating gene expression within eukaryotic cells. The fundamental organizational unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which is composed of ~147 base pairs of DNA wrapped around a histone protein core. Post-translational modifications (PTM’s) to the protruding tails of histone proteins are known to regulate nucleosome occupancy and positioning, which influence chromatin architecture and thus gene expression. However, relatively little is known about the residual effects of histone PTM’s on transcription rate, especially in nucleosomes along the gene body. Here, we demonstrate a method for measuring transcription rate in real-time with a common qPCR machine. This lays the framework for a novel in vivo system in which we will use C. elegans transcriptional machinery to directly study the effects of histone PTM’s on transcription rate, independent of changes to chromatin architecture.

Document Type

Book

Publication Date

2025

Language

English

College

Life Sciences

Department

Microbiology and Molecular Biology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Junior

Laying Framework for a Novel System to Test Effects of Histone Modifications

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Life Sciences Commons

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