Scientists from the CNRS (IGH) in collaboration with a laboratory from Oxford University have discovered a new way in which the organisation of DNA within our cells affects genes for generations. The three-dimensional organization of chromatin can initiate a mechanism that transmits the active or the repressed state of gene expression and the manipulation of this 3D organization can be used to modify this inheritance. This new finding uncovers a new way of inheritance in addition to the one transmitted by the sequence of DNA.
