Moving genes about could help cells to respond to change according to scientists. Changing the location of a gene within a cell alters its activity. Like mixing music, different locations can make a gene 'louder' or 'quieter', with louder genes contributing more actively to the life of a cell.

Contrary to expectations, this latest study reveals that each gene doesn't have an ideal location in the cell nucleus. Instead, genes are always on the move. Published in the journal Nature, researchers examined the organisation of genes in stem cells from mice. They revealed that these cells continually remix their genes, changing their positions as they progress though different stages. This work, which has also inspired a musical collaboration, suggests that moving genes about in this way could help cells to fine-tune the volume of each gene to suit the cell's needs.

Scientists had believed that the location of genes in cells are relatively fixed with each gene having it's rightful place. Different types of cells could organize their genes in different ways, but genes weren't thought to move around much except when cells divide. This is the first time that gene organization in individual cells has been studied in detail. The results provide snapshots of gene organization, with each cell arranging genes in unique ways.

Lead author said: "We typically see that changes to gene activity have a great impact on health, disease and evolution. It's now obvious that genome organization may have a part to play in this and our research shows that the effects of location on genes may be a constantly moving target. Understanding how the genome is controlled during this constant re-shuffling is an important step towards understanding how our genomes and genes effect our lives."

The team now plan to examine whether changing the locations of genes actually has a significant effect on the volume of each gene and to study different types of cells to understand whether they move genes about less once they stop dividing or if all cells behave like stem cells do.

http://www.babraham.ac.uk/news/2017/07/genetic-dj-growing-cells-remix-their-genes

https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v547/n7661/full/nature23001.html