“Genetic and epigenetic control of x-chromosome inactivation”. Edith Heard

The X-chromosome is a fundamental model to study how identical DNA sequences are treated differently from the chromatin organization factors. Exploring the structure of the X-chromosome it is possible to study how the choose of the specific expressed allele is done. it is emerging that non-coding RNA molecules could have an important role in the inactivation of a specific alleles and in the propagation of these modifications. Chromosome conformation capture analysis allowed the Edith Heard’s group to define topologically associated domains (TADs) in which specific non-coding regulators are clustered with their target genes suggesting a genome function of TADs. Thus, the study of TADs could help not only to identify new regulators, but also to define structural differences between the active and inactive X-chromosome.

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