{"title":"Genomic snowflakes: how the uniqueness of DNA folding allows us to smell the chemical universe","authors":"Longzhi Tan , X. Sunney Xie , Stavros Lomvardas","doi":"10.1016/j.gde.2025.102329","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Olfactory receptor (OR) gene choice, the stable expression of one out of >2000 OR alleles by olfactory sensory neurons, constitutes a gene regulatory process that is driven by three-dimensional nuclear architecture. Moreover, the differentiation-dependent process that culminates in monogenic and monoallelic OR transcription represents a powerful demonstration of the rich mechanistic insight that single-cell genomics and multiomics can provide toward the understanding of a biological process. At this review, we describe the latest advances in the understanding of OR gene regulation and highlight important standing questions regarding the emerging specificity of ultra-long-range genomic interaction and the contribution of transcription and noncoding RNAs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50606,"journal":{"name":"Current Opinion in Genetics & Development","volume":"92 ","pages":"Article 102329"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Current Opinion in Genetics & Development","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959437X25000218","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Olfactory receptor (OR) gene choice, the stable expression of one out of >2000 OR alleles by olfactory sensory neurons, constitutes a gene regulatory process that is driven by three-dimensional nuclear architecture. Moreover, the differentiation-dependent process that culminates in monogenic and monoallelic OR transcription represents a powerful demonstration of the rich mechanistic insight that single-cell genomics and multiomics can provide toward the understanding of a biological process. At this review, we describe the latest advances in the understanding of OR gene regulation and highlight important standing questions regarding the emerging specificity of ultra-long-range genomic interaction and the contribution of transcription and noncoding RNAs.
期刊介绍:
Current Opinion in Genetics and Development aims to stimulate scientifically grounded, interdisciplinary, multi-scale debate and exchange of ideas. It contains polished, concise and timely reviews and opinions, with particular emphasis on those articles published in the past two years. In addition to describing recent trends, the authors are encouraged to give their subjective opinion of the topics discussed.
In Current Opinion in Genetics and Development we help the reader by providing in a systematic manner:
1. The views of experts on current advances in their field in a clear and readable form.
2. Evaluations of the most interesting papers, annotated by experts, from the great wealth of original publications.[...]
The subject of Genetics and Development is divided into six themed sections, each of which is reviewed once a year:
• Cancer Genomics
• Genome Architecture and Expression
• Molecular and genetic basis of disease
• Developmental mechanisms, patterning and evolution
• Cell reprogramming, regeneration and repair
• Genetics of Human Origin / Evolutionary genetics (alternate years)