A collaborative research group between the National Institute of Genetics and Nagasaki University has revealed that the strength of the cell nucleus is produced not only by the structure of the nuclear shell but also by the DNA itself.We have newly proposed the role of a spring that supports the elasticity of the nucleus in DNA, which has been regarded as a memory device for genetic information.
The cells that make up the human body perform their functions while supporting their own weight, generating power by themselves, and receiving various forces from the outside.It is thought that these forces are also transmitted to the cell nucleus, which is the storage place for DNA, distort the nucleus, and inhibit the function of DNA.However, since it was difficult to directly measure properties such as the hardness and elasticity of the nucleus, little was known about the mechanism of response to the force transmitted to the cell nucleus.
The research group measured the strength of the nucleus by directly touching the nucleus of a human cell with a thin glass needle with a diameter of about 1 μm and observing the distortion of the nucleus when a force was applied.As a result, it was found that the nucleus has both hardness and elasticity to counter the force.Furthermore, by measuring and comparing nuclei composed of condensed normal DNA, stretched DNA and broken DNA, it is clear that elastic force is also generated from the DNA itself. I made it.
This result proposes a new role for DNA, which controls the hardness of the nucleus by acting as a spring for the nucleus.In addition, it is said that the understanding of the distortion and structural destruction that occur in the nucleus, which are thought to be related to abnormalities such as cell death and canceration, will advance, leading to the elucidation of the mechanism by which such cell abnormalities occur.
Paper information: [Molecular Biology of the Cell] Nucleosome-nucleosome interactions via histone tails and linker DNA regulated nuclear rigidity
