Cells depend on the precise reading of DNA sequences to function correctly. This process, known as gene expression, determines which genetic instructions are activated. When this fails, the wrong parts of the genome can be activated, leading to cancers and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Scientists at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have identified two proteins that play a key role in regulating this essential mechanism, paving the way for promising new treatments that could be more effective and less toxic than those currently available. Their findings are published in Nature Communications.

Human DNA contains over 20,000 genes and would stretch nearly two meters if fully uncoiled. To fit this enormous amount of information into a tiny space within a cell—just 10 to 100 micrometers in diameter—it must be tightly compacted. This is the job of chromatin, a complex of proteins that packages and condenses DNA within the cell nucleus.