作者: Philip M. D. Severin , Xueqing Zou , Hermann E. Gaub , Klaus Schulten
DOI: 10.1093/NAR/GKR578
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摘要: DNA methylation plays an essential role in transcriptional control of organismal development epigenetics, from turning off a specific gene to inactivation entire chromosomes. While the biological function is becoming increasingly clear, mechanism methylation-induced regulation still poorly understood. Through single-molecule force experiments and simulation we investigated effects on strand separation DNA, crucial step expression. Molecular assay spectroscopy revealed strong dependence separation. Methylation observed either inhibit or facilitate separation, depending level sequence context. dynamics simulations provided detailed view suggesting underlying physical mechanism. According our study, epigenetics may regulate expression not only through mechanisms already known but also changing mechanical properties DNA.