Science: discover the new role of space chromosome tissue of frequently mutated oncoprotein

May 29, 2019 / bioun / - a new study by Westad Institute reveals the function of protein arid1a, which is encoded by a gene that is one of the most common mutations in human cancer According to the study published in science advanced, arid1a plays a role in the spatial organization of the genome; therefore, its deletion has a wide influence on the overall gene expression This discovery provides important information for deciphering molecular changes related to several cancers, especially ovarian cancer "My lab has been studying the role of arid1a as a part of SWI / SNF complex in gene expression regulation," said Dr rugang Zhang, deputy director, chief researcher, professor and co project leader of gene expression regulation project, cancer center, Wistar Research Institute "In the process of searching for new interacting proteins of this complex, we found a new protein, which provides a new perspective for arid1a as a whole genome regulator of space chromosome organization "Picture source: the three-dimensional structure of science advanced genome determines how DNA molecules accumulate in a micro space, and also allows each gene to be transcribed and expressed at an appropriate time The team found that arid1a interacts with a component of the lectin II complex, which regulates gene expression through tissue chromosome structure Zhang added: "this is a fine-tuning process, and we found that arid1a plays a key role in it "The results show that arid1a determines the genome location of thrombin II on some DNA regulatory elements called enhancers Therefore, when the function of arid1a is lost due to gene mutation, the distribution of prothrombin II changes and the expression of a large number of genes changes Zhang and his colleagues also found that through interaction with prothrombin II, arid1a controls how different parts of the chromosome are spatially organized together, known as chromosomal regions, which contribute to the coordinated expression of certain genes "Our findings add an important part to the field of chromatin regulation in cancer," said Shuai Wu, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher at Dr Zhang's laboratory and one of the lead authors of the study "By changing the specific structure of the chromosome, the effect of arid1a gene deletion on gene expression will be much broader than we initially thought "Reference: Shuai Wu et al Arid1a spatial partitions interphase chromosomes" science advanced (2019) Doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw5294