The role of nuclear architecture in genomic instability and ageing

Eukaryotes come in many shapes and sizes, yet one thing that they all seem to share is a decline in vitality and health over time--a process known as ageing. If there are conserved causes of ageing, they may be traced back to common biological structures that are inherently difficult to maintain throughout life. One such structure is chromatin, the DNA-protein complex that stabilizes the genome and dictates gene expression. Studies in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae have pointed to chromatin reorganization as a main contributor to ageing in that species, which raises the possibility that similar processes underlie ageing in more complex organisms.     

NR2F6在肿瘤中的研究进展

核受体亚族2,F组第6号成员NR2F6 (Nuclear receptor subfamily 2,group F,member 6)是孤核受体中的一员,在人体主要组织、器官中均有表达,对多种生物学功能和基因表达调控起着重要的作用.近年来其与肿瘤发生发展的关系受到广泛关注,研究表明,NR2F6在多种肿瘤中表达均有上调,...     

The role of adhesion energy in controlling cell-cell contacts

Recent advances in microscopy techniques and biophysical measurements have provided novel insight into the molecular, cellular and biophysical basis of cell adhesion. However, comparably little is known about a core element of cell-cell adhesion--the energy of adhesion at the cell-cell contact. In this review, we discuss approaches to understand the nature and regulation of adhesion energy, and propose strategies to determine adhesion energy between cells in vitro and in vivo.     

The role of water in cell architecture

The role of water in biochemical and cellular events is ignored by most workers. However, much recent research has pointed to the importance of physical processes of the cell, which focus attention on such straight forward, elementary questions as position and relationship in space of cell components. In this communication these questions are examined in terms of a new model of water structure. A radically new feature of this model is that water clusters have long-term rather than flickering existence and are as large as the macromolecular components of the cell. These properties allow the clusters and other components to pack together spacially so giving rise to integrated, large-scale, subcellular structures. The intimate participation of water in these structures would explain the fragility of the cytoplasmic organization.