Hidden switch in cell division may point to new cancer treatments
When a cell gets ready to divide, it shuts down its gene-reading machinery almost entirely. For decades, the mechanism behind that shutdown was only partially understood. A new study co-led by Alarcón and Lilian Kabeche, associate professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale School of Medicine, identifies a missing piece: an enzyme best known for tagging RNA molecules that turns out…
When cells prepare to divide, they swiftly halt almost all gene reading, or transcription, as they focus on cell division. A new study led by Alarcón and Kabeche, researchers at Yale School of Medicine, has discovered a crucial enzyme called METTL3 that plays a pivotal role in this process. METTL3 modifies RNA by attaching a small chemical tag, affecting the fate of mRNA molecules and regulating their production.
The study reveals that METTL3 is wired into the cell division machinery and activated by CDK1, a protein complex that triggers transcription and clears mRNA molecules from chromosomes. This mechanism ensures proper condensation and segregation of chromosomes during mitosis, preventing aneuploidy, a hallmark of cancer. Inhibiting METTL3 activation or 7SK modification can lead to lagging chromosomes and chromosomal instability, contributing to cancer development.
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