Nuclear Organization, Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression

This is one of the first books that focuses on emerging concepts about the role of the structure of chromatin, the organization of the genome, and the structure of the interphase nucleus in the control of gene expression in eukaryotes. The first section analyses the relationship between the dynamic chromatin structure at the nucleosome level and gene expression. Section two looks into higher order chromatin structure in relation to transcription. In section three the molecular basis of epigenetic phenomena, like X-chromosome inactivation is discussed, starting from our understanding of chromatin structure. Together, these topics form the molecular basis for our understanding of cell differentiation, knowledge that is essential for the design of transgenic animals and plants and for gene therapy in humans. The book is of direct interest to students that are new in the field and to investigators in the area of biomolecular sciences, like developmental biology, biochemistry, cell biology, microbiology and genetics. Also, those working in applied fields of research, i.e biotechnology and biomedicine, will strongly benefit from this book. This book is intended for graduate students, post doctoral scientists and researchers in molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, developmental biology and related disciplines.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, general perspective, scope of book, key questions. Part 1: Nucleosome Dynamics and Transcription. 1.2: Role of a positioned nucleosome in constitutive repression and hormone induction of the MMTV promoter. 1.3: Histone modification and transcriptional competence. 1.4: Mechanisms for alleviating chromatin-mediated repression of transcription. Part 2: Higher Order Structure of the Genome and the Nucleus. 2.1: Chromatin domains and boundary elements. 2.2: Nuclear matrix associated regions. 2.3: The chicken lysozyme chromatin domain. 2.4: Locus control regions. 2.5: Interphase chromosome positions and structure during silencing, transcription and replication. 2.6: Genes and transcripts in the interphase nucleus. Part 3: Biological Structure and Epigenetic Control of Gene Expression. 3.1: DNA methylation and genomic imprinting. 3.2: X chromosome inactivation and heritable chromatin structure. 3.3: Drosophila heterochromatin: retreats for repeats. 3.4: Mechanisms of heritable gene silencing during development of Drosophila. 3.5: Heterochromatin and regulation of gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 3.6: Homology-dependent gene silencing in transgenic plants and related phenomena in other eukaryotes