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Cohesin protein complexes are a molecular glue that holds two sister chromatids together. They play an important role both in mitosis and meiosis. In mitosis, all cohesin complexes present on the chromosomes are removed before the start of the anaphase stage.
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Human cohesin compacts DNA by loop extrusion.

Yoori Kim1, Zhubing Shi1, Hongshan Zhang2

  • 1Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.

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|November 30, 2019
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cohesin-NIPBL compacts DNA by extruding loops, acting as an ATP-driven molecular machine. This process is essential for genome organization and requires ATP hydrolysis.

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Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Cohesin is a protein complex crucial for chromosome organization.
  • The mechanism of genome organization by cohesin, specifically loop extrusion, lacks direct evidence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To provide direct evidence for cohesin-mediated loop extrusion.
  • To characterize the biophysical properties of cohesin-NIPBL complex in DNA compaction.

Main Methods:

  • Single-molecule imaging techniques were employed.
  • Recombinant human cohesin-NIPBL complex was used to study DNA compaction.

Main Results:

  • Cohesin-NIPBL was shown to compact both naked and nucleosome-bound DNA via loop extrusion.
  • DNA compaction is dependent on adenosine triphosphate (ATP) hydrolysis and is force-sensitive.
  • The process is processive over tens of kilobases at approximately 0.5 kilobases per second.
  • Experiments with double-tethered DNA suggest bidirectional loop extrusion by cohesin dimers.

Conclusions:

  • Cohesin-NIPBL functions as an ATP-driven molecular machine capable of extruding DNA loops.
  • This study provides direct evidence for the loop extrusion model of genome organization by cohesin.