Jason Brickner, PhD
Professor, Molecular Biosciences; Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences
Research Program
Cancer-Focused Research
DNA zip codes; these elements, when inserted at an ectopic locus, cause targeting to the nuclear periphery. Interaction of genes with the NPC also impacts the spatial organization of the yeast genome; genes that are targeted to the NPC cluster together with each other if they are targeted by the same transcription factor. DNA zip codes are both necessary and sufficient to induce this type of interchromosomal clustering. We have identified a large number of transcription factors that possess this ability, suggesting that 1) controlling gene positioning is an underappreciated function of certain transcription factors and 2) that genomes encode their spatial organization through transcription factor binding sites.