Molecular Mechanism of Cell Differentiation
Molecular Mechanism of Cell Differentiation
Molecular Mechanism of Cell Differentiation
Differentiation
Two main mechanisms can be envisaged
1. Those in which genes are differentially
activated(transcriptional, post transcriptional
or translational levels)
2. Those in which the genes themselves are
altered (by amplification, DNA
rearrangement & methylation)
Control at the level of transcription
Polytene chromosomes- in which transcription
can be directly visualised in the form of puffs.
Specialised cells have distinct patterns of
puffing & therefore of transcription.
Transcriptional control has been clearly proven
also for those genes that code for abundant
specialised proteins such as globin, ovalbumin &
silk fibroin.
To make hybridization probes fro these genes the
mRNA is copied into DNA with reverse
transcriptase & then the cDNA is cloned into
plasmids.
With these hybridisation probes, transcripts from
the corresponding gene can be detected only in
those cells that produce the protein product.
Enormous amounts of protein can be produced
from the transcriptional induction of a single
protein-coding gene because stable mRNA
molecules can be translated many times.
Chromatin structure is one possible level at
which transcription may be controlled.