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Poised for action

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 3, page 5 (2002)Cite this article

When cells enter mitosis, several processes are put on hold — presumably to ensure that all resources are channelled towards the successful completion of division. One abandoned process is RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-dependent transcription. But how does the cell manage to efficiently pick up where it left off after division?

The dogma has long been that, during chromosome condensation, most transcription factors and RNAPII are displaced. Then, after division, cells get back to work and re-initiate the transcription of previously active genes. Intuitively, this seems like a very inefficient way of doing things, and recent work from the Levens lab has hinted that mitotically silenced genes might retain a 'bookmark', which allows them to remember that they were active before mitosis. Now, reporting in Nature Cell Biology, Christova and Oelgeschläger unveil the identity of such a bookmark. They show that some basal transcription factors remain bound during mitosis, keeping the promoters of previously active genes poised for postmitotic action.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Christova, R. & Oelgeschlager, T. Association of human TFIID-promoter complexes with silenced mitotic chromatin in vivo. Nature Cell Biol. 4, 79–82 (2001) | PubMed |

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  1. Associate Editor, Nature Cell Biology,

    Alison Schuldt

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  1. Alison Schuldt
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Schuldt, A. Poised for action. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 3, 5 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm707

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