In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers have found that a protein called Mrc1 plays a crucial role in ensuring that cells keep their identity as they divide and grow. The discovery could have significant implications for understanding diseases like cancer and the aging process. The study, published in the journal Cell , marks a step forward in the field of epigenetics and its impact on health and disease.
Epigenetics, the study of how genes are turned on or off without changing the DNA itself, is central to this process. It involves chemical tags on DNA and proteins called histones, which help manage gene activity. The tags need to be accurately passed on when cells divide, so the new cells function just like their parent cells.
The research, led by Professors Genevieve Thon and Anja Groth at the University of Copenhagen, found that Mrc1 is essential for this inheritance. During cell division, Mrc1 ensures that histones, carrying these chemical tags, are evenly distributed to both new copies of the DNA, maintaining the cell's identity and function. "During my PhD work at the Department of Biology, we knew this protein was important for maintaining the heterochromatic state in cells.
We had a good idea of how it worked, but while we had experimental data, we didn't have the tools in our lab to confirm it on a molecular level," says Sebastian Charlton, now Postdoc at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research (CPR), who is the shared first author of the stu.