Inositol Polyphosphate Regulates Genetic Response to Stress

A study has found that the small molecule inositol polyphosphate has an important regulatory role in cell metabolism due to its effects on a group of enzymes known as ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes, which change the structure of the nucleosome to allow the access to DNA required for gene transcription. The study was published November 14, 2002, in the online journal Science Express.

Inositol polyphosphate is synthesized by the nuclear enzyme inositol polyphosphate kinase, which is encoded by the arg82 gene. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF, USA; www.ucsf.edu) found that in mutant yeast cells lacking the arg82 gene the normal chromatin restructuring of another gene was impaired, and as a result, the ATP-dependent remodeling enzymes were not "recruited to the appropriate part of the gene.

"Many enzymes have been identified that modify chromosome structure and trigger gene transcription, but this is the first example of a molecule that regulates these restructuring enzymes and can affect many, many genes at once,” explained senior author Dr. Erin O'Shea, professor of biochemistry at the UCSF. "This molecule's action might allow the cell to regulate the activity of a number of genes in response to stress. Chromosome-altering enzymes control important genes in cells. Mutations in the corresponding human enzymes predispose people to a variety of cancers.”



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