Rev-erbα dynamically modulates chromatin looping to control circadian gene transcription

Abstract

Chromosome dynamics and cellular clocks Many genes undergo daily or circadian changes in their rate of transcription. Kim et al. explored the mechanism by which the circadian clock is linked to chromosome dynamics (see the Perspective by Diettrich Mallet de Lima and Göndör). They used a chromosome conformation capture technique (Hi-C) to identify the interactions of adjacent DNA fragments and determine how DNA looping that altered such interactions changed over daily cycles. The repressive transcription factor Rev-erbα, which functions as part of the mammalian clock mechanism, appears to bind to chromatin and recruit a protein complex that evicts other proteins that enhance looping, thus favoring enhancer-promoter interactions. Science , this issue p. 1274 ; see also p. 1212