Poly(dA:dT) Tracts: Major Determinants of Nucleosome Organization

Overview

Journal Curr Opin Struct Biol

Date 2009 Feb 12

PMID 19208466

Citations 241

Authors

Eran Segal

Jonathan Widom

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Homopolymeric stretches of deoxyadenosine nucleotides (A's) on one strand of double-stranded DNA, referred to as poly(dA:dT) tracts or A-tracts, are overabundant in eukaryotic genomes. They have unusual structural, dynamic, and mechanical properties, and may resist sharp bending. Such unusual material properties, together with their overabundance in eukaryotes, raised the possibility that poly(dA:dT) tracts might function in eukaryotes to influence the organization of nucleosomes at many genomic regions. Recent genome-wide studies strongly confirm these ideas and suggest that these tracts play major roles in chromatin organization and genome function. Here we review what is known about poly(dA:dT) tracts and how they work.

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