Maintaining transcriptional states through DNA replication.
The timing of DNA replication has been implicated in gene regulation based on observations that actively transcribed genes generally replicate earlier in S-phase than their inactive counterparts. However, we recently showed that differentiation-induced gene silencing in lymphocytes does not generally result in silenced genes switching from early to late replication, but instead alters the onset of separation of newly synthesised sister-chromatids. Our findings may provide novel insights into the mechanisms that allow inactive chromatin structure to be propagated through DNA replication.
D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000502:physiology; D002842:Chromatids / Q000378:metabolism; D004261:DNA Replication; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020868:Gene Silencing; D014158:Transcription, Genetic