All content on this site: Copyright © 2026 Elsevier B.V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. For all open access content, the relevant licensing terms apply.

Here, the authors show how HSV-1 rewires the host cell’s chromatin architecture during lytic infection by hijacking transcription machinery and forming contacts between viral and host genomes.

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - Pia Cosma recounts the development of STORM, which was the first microscopy method to break the diffraction limit of light.

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 06 May 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00856-xPia Cosma recounts the development of STORM, which was the first microscopy method to break the diffraction limit of light.

Register for the ECaBox Symposium: Seeing the Future on 3rd June 2025, a full-day event bringing together leading experts to discuss the latest advancements in eye disease, retinal regeneration, and t...

Background The regulation of chromatin accessibility is essential in eukaryotic cells as one of several mechanisms that ensure gene activation occurs at appropriate times and in appropriate cell types...

The complex life cycle of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum involves several major differentiation stages, each requiring strict control of gene expression. Fundamental changes in chromatin structure and epigenetic modifications during life cycle progression suggest a central role for these mechanisms in regulating the transcriptional program of malaria parasite development1–6. P. falciparum chromatin is distinct from other eukaryotes, with an extraordinarily high AT content (>80%)7 and highly divergent histones resulting in atypical DNA packaging properties8. Moreover, the chromatin remodellers that are critical for shaping chromatin structure are not conserved and are unexplored in P. falciparum. Here we identify P. falciparum Snf2L (PfSnf2L, encoded by PF3D7_1104200) as an ISWI-related ATPase that actively repositions P. falciparum nucleosomes in vitro. Our results demonstrate that PfSnf2L is essential, regulating both asexual development and sexual differentiation. PfSn

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes are thought to shape genomes by extruding DNA loops, but recent genetic tests have challenged the “loop extrusion hypothesis.” Here, Uhlmann explores whether SMC complexes might form chromatin loops by sequential DNA-DNA capture, akin to how cohesin establishes sister chromatid cohesion.

Higher-order chromatin structure and DNA methylation are critical for gene regulation, but how these vary across the human body remains unclear. We performed multi-omic profiling of 3D genome structur...

Fibroblastic reticular cells are the source of Notch ligands promoting the differentiation of short-lived effector CD8+ T cells. Induction of early Notch s

Single-strand breaks (SSBs) are one of the most prevalent forms of DNA damage found in the chromatinized genome and are repaired by single-strand break repair (SSBR) or base excision repair (BER). DNA polymerase beta (Pol β) is the primary enzyme responsible for processing the 1-nt gap intermediate in chromatin during SSBR and BER. To date, the mechanism used by Pol β to process a 1-nt gap in the context of chromatin remains poorly understood. Here, we use biochemical assays and cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine the kinetic and structural basis of gap-filling DNA synthesis in the nucleosome by Pol β. This work establishes that Pol β uses a global DNA sculpting mechanism for processing 1-nt gaps in the nucleosome during SSBR and BER, providing fundamental insight into DNA repair in chromatin. DNA polymerase beta (Pol β) is the primary enzyme responsible for processing 1-nt gaps in chromatin during DNA repair. Here, the authors determine the kinetic and structural basi

Key Points. Precise engineering of the ETO2::GLIS2 fusion in iPSC reproduces leukemogenesis in a developmentally-relevant human cell contextThe temporal or

Many genes physically interact with the nuclear pore complex (NPC), which requires transcription factors (TFs). Ge et al. show that the exportin Crm1 binds TFs and nuclear pore proteins to dock chromatin at the NPC and to stimulate transcription. This function of Crm1 is distinct from its role in nuclear export.

Background During meiosis, the mammalian genome is organised within chromatin loops, which facilitate synapsis, crossing over and chromosome segregation, setting the stage for recombination events and...

Cohesin is a multi-subunit molecular machine that is able to create lateral chromatin loops within a linear chromosome fiber. Despite intense study, a…

Cell free DNA (cfDNA) analysis has a large potential for cancer patient diagnosis. Given the evidence that cfDNA partially preserves chromatin architecture of tumor cells, it potentially allows the de...