chromosome glue

Scientist at the Carnegie Institution have been surprised at the way the protein cohesin react when they are manipulated. It seems that they have found a way to insert a code to tell the gene to stop everything prematurely. In doing this the translation of the DNA is stopped and a fully functioning protein cannot be formed. Usually this would cause the cell to die, but in this study the researchers inserted a mutation called SUP53 which resulted in the occasional production of a full length cohesin protein. The scientists found this interesting because normally chohesin binds throughout the chromosomes, but with the lover amounts it was only found in the center. This explains why some cohesin functions are affected more than others. The full article can be found here.