Waking the Neighbours: Disruption of H ‐NS Repression by Overlapping Transcription

This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The histone‐like nucleoid structuring (H‐NS) protein and its analogues silence transcription across large stretches of horizontally acquired AT‐rich DNA in a broad range of bacterial species. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, Rangarajan and Schnetz show that when transcription from a neighbouring region invades an H‐NS‐bound locus, it can disrupt local H‐NS repression. This finding has important implications for H‐NS function and its impact on genome evolution.
Source: Molecular Microbiology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: MicroCommentary Source Type: research