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A new study to be published in the June issue of Nature Genetics reports the binding profile of proteins involved in organizing the structure of DNA in the Drosophila genome.

NATURE RESEARCH JOURNALS PRESS RELEASE For papers that will be published online on 20 April 2006 This press release is copyrighted to Nature Genetics. Warning: This document, and the Nature journal papers to which it refers, may contain information that is price sensitive (as legally defined, for example, in the UK Criminal Justice Act 1993 Part V) with respect to publicly quoted companies. Anyone dealing in securities using information contained in this document, or in advance copies of a Nature journal’s content, may be guilty of insider trading under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934. PLEASE CITE Nature GENETICS AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO THE JOURNAL’S WEBSITE. The full paper can be found on the Nature Genetics section of the press site: http://press.nature.com Genome wide profiling of chromatin elements DOI: 10.1038/ng1792 A new study to be published in the June issue of Nature Genetics reports the binding profile of proteins involved in organizing the structure of DNA in the Drosophila genome. Maarten van Lohuizen, Bas van Steensel and colleagues report the identification of the genetic elements that are capable of binding polycomb proteins in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Polycomb protein complexes are proteins involved with the structural organization of the DNA into chromosomes, and are known to bind to chromatin and establish silenced gene regions. Previous studies have implicated polycomb protein complexes in the maintenance of stem cells and in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation. The authors found that polycomb complexes bind to large genomic regions, indicating that they are important for the formation of repressive chromatin domains. Repressive chromatin domains are an important component in the control of expression of the genome. The authors also found that polycomb complexes preferentially bind to developmental genes, highlighting the involvement of PcG proteins in the coordination of development. Author Contact Maarten van Lohuizen (The Netherlands Cancer Institute) Tel: +011 31 20 512 2030, E-mail: m.v.lohuizen@nki.nl Bas van Steensel (The Netherlands Cancer Institute) Tel: +31 20 512 2040, E-mail: b.v.steensel@nki.nl PRESS CONTACTS… For North America and Canada Katie McGoldrick, Nature Washington Tel: +1 202 737 2355; E-mail: k.mcgoldrick@naturedc.com For Japan, Korea, China, Singapore and Taiwan Rinoko Asami, Nature Tokyo Tel: +81 3 3267 8751; E-mail: r.asami@naturejpn.com For the UK/Europe/other countries not listed above Ruth Francis, Nature London Tel: +44 20 7843 4562; E-mail r.francis@nature.com For media inquiries relating to editorial content/policy for Nature Genetics, please contact the journal directly: Orli Bahcall (Nature Genetics, NY, USA) Tel: +1 212 726 9311; E-mail: natgen@natureny.com Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, dedicated to serving the academic, professional scientific and medical communities. NPG's flagship title, Nature, is the world's most highly-cited weekly multidisciplinary journal and was first published in 1869. Other publications and services include Nature research journals, Nature Reviews, Nature Clinical Practice, a range of prestigious academic journals, including society-owned publications, news content from news@nature.com and scientific career information from Naturejobs. NPG is a global company, with headquarters in London and offices in New York, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Tokyo, Paris, Munich, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Gurgaon, Mexico City and Basingstoke. For more information, please go to www.nature.com

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Nature Genetics