epigenetics Archives - Centre de recherche de l'Institut Curie

Replication program and genome instability

DNA replication must adapt to changes in chromatin organization associated with cell differentiation and development, whose deregulation can challenge genome stability and leads to mutations, cancer and many other genetic diseases. However, despite intensive studies, the mechanisms that coordinate where and when replication initiates in the human genome remain poorly known. Our team focuses on […]

Molecular Mechanisms of Chromosome Dynamics

To maintain balance in genetic information the replicated chromosomes of the mother cell divide equally to create two daughter cells, each with a perfectly identical copy of the cellular genetic material. Delivery of chromosomes to each daughter cell during cell division is mediated by the centromere, the fundamental requisite for chromosome inheritance (Figure 1). Indeed, […]

Chromatin dynamics

Chromatin organization in the nucleus provides a large repertoire of information in addition to that encoded genetically. Understanding how this information is established and possibly inherited through cell division is a challenge for the field. A key question is how histones, the major protein components of chromatin, as particular variants or post-translationally modified forms, can […]

Compartmentalization and Dynamics of Nuclear Functions

The tri-dimensional organization of the genome is clearly linked to its function as it varies during the cell cycle and upon differentiation in metazoan. However, the causal relationship between nuclear organization and function remains often elusive. Budding yeast has proven to be an excellent model system for testing the functional role of higher-order chromatin organization. […]

Telomeres and Cancer

Tumorigenesis is a multistep process in which chromosomal instability plays an important role. We have shown that telomere instability due to excessive shortening is the main driving force of chromosome aberrations during the early stages of cell transformation. Our work has shown that this chromosome instability is associated with genome-wide changes in the chromatin landscape, […]