Yeast activates 2,500 genes in 6 minutes

In her doctoral thesis, Marijana Radonjic describes how resting yeast cells entering the cell division cycle activate at least 2,500 genes within six minutes.

Insights into the transition from resting to dividing cells can be used to understand aging and cancer. Radonjic also found that the enzyme responsible for reading the genes – RNA polymerase II – is already present at the starting points of the genes, before they are read. This contradicts the earlier view that RNA polymerase II only goes to the genes when it is needed.

Radonjic received her PhD from Utrecht University on September 12. Het thesis is titled 'Genome-wide analysis of transcription regulation during the cell quiescence cycle'.