|
"PcG proteins are thought to maintain transcriptional silencing through heritable alterations in chromatin structure. Electron micrographs of nucleosomal arrays alone (A) or in the presence of a complex consisting of three PcG proteins (B) demonstrate that PcG proteins alter chromatin conformation. EMs of undersaturated nucleosomal arrays (C), containing 3 or 4 nucleosomes instead of 12 (compare A and C) reveal that PcG complexes cluster nucleosomes (D, arrow) to compact chromatin (asterisk indicates DNA loop excluded from the PcG-nucleosome cluster). Biochemical and genetic evidence suggests PcG-dependent changes in chromatin structure are relevant to heritable gene silencing. We are interested in how PcG protein-dependent changes in chromatin structure occur, and how they are inherited through cell division." |
