So how does DNA know where to work? For example, how does DNA know whether it is in a blood cell or an olfactory cell?
Let’s answer these questions.
In fact, how DNA works in which cell is a multifactorial process.
A special protein called a transcription factor turns genes into action. This protein binds to DNA to increase or decrease the activity of certain genes. Additionally, many transcription factors are reused from cell to cell.
Essentially, this situation can be compared to the use of the same parts in different cars. A transcription factor can activate different genes in different cell types. For example, a factor called Olf-1, which is used in olfactory cells, is the same as Ebf-1, which is used to identify B cells.
Additionally, because DNA is organized differently in different cell types, the transcription factor knows how to activate different genes in those cells.
Also in the core; A complex of DNA, proteins, and RNA function together to package long strands of DNA.
This complex is called chromatin, and it determines which genes are more or less exposed. Again, there are processes that make longer-term changes in the DNA itself.
For example, DNA methylation involves the addition of a methyl group to a nucleotide and is often closely associated with the repression of a gene. That is, DNA methylation can be passed from generation to generation and affects which genes will or will not be activated in a particular cell type.
In summary, the human body has such a wonderful functioning that DNA, along with all these processes, works in a completely different way in each cell.
63009
