In new work published in Science, Miguel Beato led researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in collaboration with scientists at the University Pompeu Fabra’s Institute for Biomedical Research in Barcelona and the University Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. They have described a brand new way of creating energy inside the nucleus of cells, specifically for rearranging chromatin and reprogramming gene expression. The way that stress signals activate the various enzymes required for this process was also described and characterized.
Hopefully, these results will aid in understanding how chromatin is remodeled as well as its relationship with DNA damage and as such, with cancer.
"Exceptional situations call for extraordinary measures. When cells need to cope with a global reprogramming of gene expression they require a lot of energy in the nucleus. In these situations the cells block their mitochondrial and cytosolic ATP production to be focused on the main task in the nucleus," explains Miguel Beato, the principal investigator of this study.
Roni Wright, first author of the paper and a CRG postdoctoral researcher concludes, “Our results point to NUDIX5 as key player in nuclear ATP synthesis for chromatin remodeling. Since NUDIX5 is overexpressed in various types of cancer, this fundamental finding could contribute to targeted cancer medicine. NUDIX5 could be a biomarker for cancer stratification and a new potential target for future cancer treatment.”
Sources: Science, AAAS