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Science 26 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5504, pp. 608 - 609
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5504.608
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Perspectives

TRANSCRIPTION:
Is S Phase Important for Transcriptional Silencing?

Jeffrey S. Smith and Jef D. Boeke

Because the silencing of chromatin is dependent on passage of cells through S phase, it has always been assumed that DNA replication is a prerequisite for transcriptional silencing. Now, as Smith and Boeke explain in their Perspective, new work in yeast (Li et al., Kirchmaier and Rine) demonstrates that DNA replication is not required for establishing silencing of chromatin in yeast, although it may be crucial for maintenance or heritability of the silent state.

J. S. Smith is in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. E-mail: jss5y{at}virginia.edu. J. D. Boeke is in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA. E-mail: jboeke{at}jhmi.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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S. A. Ralph, C. Scheidig-Benatar, and A. Scherf (2005)
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