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The tight wrapping of genomic DNA around nucleosomes in the cell nucleus makes it unavailable for gene expression. A team of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich now describes a mechanism that allows chromosomal DNA to be locally displaced from nucleosomes for transcription.

In higher organisms the genomic DNA is stored in the cell nucleus, wrapped around disk-shaped particles called nucleosomes, each consisting of two pairs of four different histone proteins and accommodating two loops of DNA. Packed in this way to form chromatin, the DNA is protected, but it is inaccessible to the enzymes that mediate DNA transcription, repair and its replication. However, so-called chromatin-remodeling factors, including histone chaperones, ensure that chromatin is maintained in a dynamic state by locally modifying nucleosome structure, interacting with histone subunits and detaching stretches of the packaged DNA from the nucleosome core.

One such factor is the FACT complex which, unlike other histone chaperones, is essential for cell division and DNA repair. FACT interacts specifically with the H2A-H2B histone dimer, which forms part of the canonical nucleosomal particle. "However, until now, we had no structural insight into how these histones are recognized, and how this interaction between FACT and H2A-H2B relates to other biological functions of the FACT complex" says Professor Andreas Ladurner, who is at the LMU's Adolf Butenandt Institute. "So basically, we had no real idea what a reorganized nucleosome might look like."

FACT masks a DNA-binding site

To close this gap in our knowledge, Ladurner and his colleagues first looked at the structure of the H2A-H2B-binding domain of the FACT complex on its own. "This analysis provided some hints as to how FACT might interact with its histone partners, but not enough information to allow us to propose a molecular mechanism for the reorganization of nucleosomes," reports Maria Hondele, first author of the new study. "However, using high-resolution X-ray crystallography, we were ultimately able to determine the structure of the whole complex formed between FACT and the histone dimer."

The conformation of the complex revealed that binding of FACT blocks a site on the histone dimer that has a high affinity for DNA. This interaction releases the DNA from the nucleosome sufficiently to permit gene transcription to proceed past the nucleosome. "And in contrast to the conventional view, this mechanism works without unwrapping the DNA completely from the nucleosome," says Ladurner. Thus, the new study affords detailed insights into the mechanisms underlying the dynamic regulation of chromatin accessibility in the cell nucleus.

Explore further: How proteins read meta DNA code

More information: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12242.html

Basic biology textbooks may need a bit of revising now that biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material.

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Unspooling DNA from nucleosomal disks

OROVILLE A recent DNA test has connected a body found in 1996 in the Sacramento River near Sacramento to a Chico woman missing since January of that year.

The body was recovered in Yolo County near Crawdad's Restaurant on May 25, 1996 less than six months after Victorene "Vicki" Lee Pyrskalla, then 42, was reported missing from west Chico.

However, there was no information to connect the two for nearly 17 years until a recent review of older cases by Butte County Sheriff's Office investigators, according to Sgt. Jason Hail.

"It's just a shock to the entire family," 37-year-old Summer Reeser said.

Reeser was 20 when her mother went missing and she has not been able to feel some sense of closure until the recent development, she said.

District Attorney Mike Ramsey said Wednesday that advances in DNA testing prompted investigators to contact Pyrskalla's parents this January. Both parents agreed to provide swabs, which were sent to the state Department of Justice to be entered into the missing person database.

Last Friday, the Sheriff's Office was notified that the DNA provided by the parents was a familial match to the recovered body. Hail said investigators subsequently contacted Pyrskalla's mother, who then contacted the victim's father.

"My grandmother kept asking him (the investigator) to repeat himself," Reeser said.

That's the same reaction Reeser and her sister also had, Reeser said.

However, now that her mother's body has been

Excerpt from:
DNA test leads to break in '96 Chico missing woman case

RD Dawn Jackson Blatner: Healthier options for your Memorial Day burger fixings RD Dawn Jackson Blatner: Healthier options for your Memorial Day burger fixings

Kick off backyard barbecue season this Memorial Day weekend with healthier and tasty! fixings for your burger, steak or anything else you're grilling. Registered Dietician Dawn Jackson Blatner explains.

Kick off backyard barbecue season this Memorial Day weekend with healthier and tasty! fixings for your burger, steak or anything else you're grilling. Registered Dietician Dawn Jackson Blatner explains.

Dr. Mona Khanna made Tuesday's House Call from Poland. She's studying their health care system. She explained a state-of-the-art way to burn fat, and gave insight to the Oklahoma disaster relief efforts.

Dr. Mona Khanna made Tuesday's House Call from Poland. She's studying their health care system. She explained a state-of-the-art way to burn fat, and gave insight to the Oklahoma disaster relief efforts.

The Dailey Method is an innovative exercise program that incorporates a ballet bar, Pilates and yoga to strengthen your whole body. Tami Conway previewed easy exercises that will make a big difference.

The Dailey Method is an innovative exercise program that incorporates a ballet bar, Pilates and yoga to strengthen your whole body. Tami Conway previewed easy exercises that will make a big difference.

Updated: Wednesday, May 22 2013 10:56 PM EDT2013-05-23 02:56:41 GMT

Enter the DNA diet; a diet plan said to be tailored to your genetic response to food and exercise.

Enter the DNA diet; a diet plan said to be tailored to your genetic response to food and exercise.

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DNA diet matches genetic profile to meal plan

May 23, 2013 The tight wrapping of genomic DNA around nucleosomes in the cell nucleus makes it unavailable for gene expression. A team at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich now describes a mechanism that allows chromosomal DNA to be locally displaced from nucleosomes for transcription.

In higher organisms the genomic DNA is stored in the cell nucleus, wrapped around disk-shaped particles called nucleosomes, each consisting of two pairs of four different histone proteins and accommodating two loops of DNA. Packed in this way to form chromatin, the DNA is protected, but it is inaccessible to the enzymes that mediate DNA transcription, repair and its replication. However, so-called chromatin-remodeling factors, including histone chaperones, ensure that chromatin is maintained in a dynamic state by locally modifying nucleosome structure, interacting with histone subunits and detaching stretches of the packaged DNA from the nucleosome core.

One such factor is the FACT complex which, unlike other histone chaperones, is essential for cell division and DNA repair. FACT interacts specifically with the H2A-H2B histone dimer, which forms part of the canonical nucleosomal particle. "However, until now, we had no structural insight into how these histones are recognized, and how this interaction between FACT and H2A-H2B relates to other biological functions of the FACT complex" says Professor Andreas Ladurner, who is at the LMU's Adolf Butenandt Institute. "So basically, we had no real idea what a reorganized nucleosome might look like."

FACT masks a DNA-binding site To close this gap in our knowledge, Ladurner and his colleagues first looked at the structure of the H2A-H2B-binding domain of the FACT complex on its own. "This analysis provided some hints as to how FACT might interact with its histone partners, but not enough information to allow us to propose a molecular mechanism for the reorganization of nucleosomes," reports Maria Hondele, first author of the new study. "However, using high-resolution X-ray crystallography, we were ultimately able to determine the structure of the whole complex formed between FACT and the histone dimer."

The conformation of the complex revealed that binding of FACT blocks a site on the histone dimer that has a high affinity for DNA. This interaction releases the DNA from the nucleosome sufficiently to permit gene transcription to proceed past the nucleosome. "And in contrast to the conventional view, this mechanism works without unwrapping the DNA completely from the nucleosome," says Ladurner. Thus, the new study affords detailed insights into the mechanisms underlying the dynamic regulation of chromatin accessibility in the cell nucleus.

The work was supported by EU funding through the FP6 Marie Curie Research & Training Network "Chromatin Plasticity," and grants from the DFG to Collaborative Research Center 646 and the Excellence Clusters SyNergy and CIPSM.

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Biochemistry: Unspooling DNA from nucleosomal disks

Imagine you stop by a Starbucks one morning, and the shop is robbed only minutes after you leave. Witnesses say the perpetrator was drinking coffee, so investigators retrieve dozens of cups from the trash, looking for genetic evidence. When they analyze it, they may find the robbers DNA, but theyre going to find many other peoples as wellincluding yours.

What can they do with that information?

Instinctively, it feels like the answer should be nothingthat the DNA is yours, and anyone who uses it without your permission has crossed a line. Those molecules contain data about your heritage, your appearance, your predisposition to diseaseall kinds of secrets you had no intention to release to the world when you threw your cup away.

But the legal reality is something quite different: Your DNA has just entered a gray area.

In general the idea is anything you intentionally relinquish to the public, to scavengers, in the garbage, is free for anyone, said Elizabeth Joh, professor of law at the University of California Davis. This is true for your hard drive, your diary, your credit card statementsand its true for your DNA, regardless of whether you realize youre casting it aside.

Legal scholars call this material abandoned DNA, and Joh is one of a handful of thinkers saying its time the law reckoned with what rights we have to this trove of extremely personal information. Detritus containing DNA was effectively useless to most people two decades ago. But today it is becoming faster and cheaper to sequence fragments of DNArevealing the unique genetic material that begins to make us who we areand the law has yet to catch up. State laws are a patchwork of regulations, and most jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, are mum about the privacy status of the DNA we leave behind us every day.

Legal scholars argue that the free-for-all status of abandoned DNA poses an immediate threat to our privacy, not just because of problems that might arise down the line, but because of abuses that are already possible. The problem is hard to solve because abandoned DNA doesnt fit neatly into any of our existing legal categories: We have a strong expectation of privacy about our medical records, and state and federal laws increasingly protect genetic information; by contrast, simple property left behind belongs to anyone who picks it up. The DNA we leave behind is neither and both: It is garbage that also contains vital information. And right now, as far as the law is concerned, it is essentially fair game.

To the extent that the legal system is grappling with abandoned DNA, its chiefly in the criminal realm. Police are making more active use of DNA all the time, collecting and storing the information it contains, and a vigorous debate is underway about the privacy rights we have over our DNA in the context of an investigation. Later this spring the Supreme Court will decide, in the case Maryland v. King, whether the police can force a suspect to give a DNA sample when he or she has merely been arrestedbut not yet convictedfor a crime.

Abandoned DNA comes into play when the police dont have a DNA sample, and cant force a suspect to give one up. In Washington in 2003, police posed as a fictitious law firm and sent a letter with a return envelope to a murder suspect named John Nicholas Athan, inviting him to participate in a fake class-action lawsuit. He replied, and police lifted DNA from Athans saliva on the seal of the envelope and used it to convict him of the killing. The Washington State Supreme Court reviewed the technique and ruled it permissible, explaining that as soon as a letter goes in the mail, The envelope, and any saliva contained on it, becomes the property of the recipient.

What might at first seem like clever police work strikes Joh as a very slippery slope. In treating DNA the same way we treat the envelope it came on, she suggests, we miss some important differences. First, DNA is uniquely hard to hang onto: Its in stray hairs and on chewing gum, and we constantly give it away without choosing to. What can a person do to so stop shedding DNA? she asks. Second, there is a meaningful difference between physical objects that contain DNA and the information encoded on them. The former is just spit on the sidewalk; the latter reveals facts about us that we may not even want to know ourselves, and wed like to think that the law can also make that distinction.

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The DNA in your garbage: up for grabs