Scientists unravel the mystery behind ‘X-shape’ of DNA
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DNA is the biological code of all life on Earth. All living organisms contain genetic information in the form of a DNA code. As demonstrated by school textbooks, DNA is in the formation of an X. However, what causes DNA to take on this shape has long been a mystery.
Now, scientists from the Netherlands Cancer Institute have found a potential answer. "It looks like we have uncovered a universal mechanism by which cells determine the shape of their DNA,” said Benjamin Rowland, the research-group lead of the study, in an official statement.
The shape is primarily due to a protein known as shugoshin, which means 'guardian spirit' in Japanese.
Our internal body is constantly in action, with each cell dividing to create two new daughter cells. Meanwhile, the chromosomes carry the DNA in the nucleus of the cells. In this way, the DNA of each cell is copied and then distributed evenly among the new cells. The study emphasizes that during this process, cells form compact parcels in the process of copying their DNA.
“In the process, the cells leave the two copies attached in the middle until they divide. Under the microscope, such a parcel looks like an X, as one can see in all biology textbooks,” adds the press statement.
During cell division, the cohesin rings that hold the cells together open up, releasing the two arms of the DNA. Because of a protein called shugoshin (SGO1), these rings are attached in the middle of the DNA.
The official statement explains this complex biological process that works to create this shape: “Shugoshin uses a molecular key that fits precisely into a kind of keyhole in cohesin. In doing so, it locks the cohesin rings. Because shugoshin works in the center of chromosomes, it is only there that it locks the rings. That gives chromosomes their X shape.”
This new understanding could help us learn more about how our cells work.
The results have been published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
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