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PMID: 20299197 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Review

Chromatin as a potential carrier of heritable information.

Current opinion in cell biology ·Vol. 22 ·No. 3 ·2010-06-00 ·Pages 284-90

Kaufman PD, Rando OJ

Abstract

Organisms with the same genome can inherit information in addition to that encoded in the DNA sequence-this is known as epigenetic inheritance. Epigenetic inheritance is responsible for many of the phenotypic differences between different cell types in multicellular organisms. Work by many investigators over the past decades has suggested that a great deal of epigenetic information might be carried in the pattern of post-translational modifications of the histone proteins, although this is not as well established as many believe. For example, it is unclear whether and how the histones, which are displaced from the chromosome during passage of the replication fork and are often exchanged from the DNA template at other times, carry information from one cellular generation to the next. Here, we briefly review the evidence that some chromatin states are indeed heritable, and then focus on the mechanistic challenges that remain in order to understand how this inheritance can be achieved.

MeSH Terms
Animals Chromatin/genetics Epigenesis, Genetic Humans Inheritance Patterns/genetics Models, Genetic Time Factors
Chemicals
Chromatin
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Kaufman Paul D
Program in Gene Function and Expression, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Paul.Kaufman1@umassmed.edu
Rando Oliver J
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Article Info
Journal
Current opinion in cell biology
Abbr.
Curr Opin Cell Biol
ISSN
1879-0410
DOI
10.1016/j.ceb.2010.02.002
Email
paul.kaufman1@umassmed.edu
Published
2010-06-00
Epub
2010-00-17
Pages
284-90
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
8913428
PMCID
PMC3022377
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM055712 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM055712-13 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM079205-03 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM079205-04 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM055712-12 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM079205 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2010.02.002 PMC Full Text View journal details
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