title: Geometry of the nucleus: a perspective on gene expression regulation.
abstract: Gene expression control results from the combined interactions of the nearly hundred proteins forming the pre-initiation complex, thousands of transcription regulators, and genomic DNA. In the recent years, new technologies have revealed several key aspects of nuclear spatial organization that showed a fine interplay between the function of nuclear proteins, their 3D organization, and their dynamics. Here we review several concepts that link biochemical reactivity in the nucleus to its 3D spatial organization. We present the analogies between the emerging understanding of nuclear organization in the field of cell biology, and the more established disciplines of heterogeneous catalysis and the physics of random walks. We provide several recent examples showing how nuclear geometry affects protein reactivity in the nucleus.
authors: Functional Imaging of Transcription, École normale supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), Inserm U1024, CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, France.
authors: Maxime
authors: M
authors: Woringer
authors: Functional Imaging of Transcription, École normale supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), Inserm U1024, CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, France. Electronic address: darzacq@biologie.ens.fr.
authors: Xavier
authors: X
authors: Darzacq
authors: Functional Imaging of Transcription, École normale supérieure, Institut de Biologie de l'ENS (IBENS), Inserm U1024, CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, France. Electronic address: izeddin@biologie.ens.fr.
authors: Ignacio
authors: I
authors: Izeddin
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D011485:Protein Binding; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors