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In a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Indiana University team found that the movement of chromatin, the substance that makes up DNA, helps promote the effective repair of DNA damage in the human nucleus. This finding may improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

DNA damage occurs naturally in the human body, and most of the damage can be repaired by the cells themselves. However, unsuccessful repair can lead to cancer.

"The DNA in the nucleus is always moving, not static. The movement of its higher complex chromatin has a direct role in influencing DNA repair. In yeast, past studies have shown that DNA damage promotes chromatin motility, while its high fluidity also contributes to DNA repair. In human cells, however, the relationship is more complex. Liu Jing, assistant professor of physics at IUPUI's School of Science, said.

Liu and his colleagues found that chromatin at the site of DNA damage moved much faster than chromatin farther away from the site of DNA damage. They also found that chromatin in the nucleus did not move randomly. It is a coherent movement where DNA moves as a group over short distances.

The researchers also found evidence that DNA damage may affect DNA group movement by reducing coherence. These findings suggest that chromatin motility is tightly controlled when DNA is damaged. This is important to prevent harmful exposure to damaged DNA and to improve the accuracy and effectiveness of DNA repair, Liu said.

"Our findings reveal the fundamental role of chromatin motility in DNA damage response and DNA repair," Liu said. "These findings contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of DNA repair in human cells and the occurrence of cancer in humans." In fact, we can use these findings as indicators of drug response to many different drugs used to treat cancer. We can test different drugs to see if we can modify chromatin motility to enhance DNA repair. ”

To conduct this study, Liu and his colleagues had to develop the computational tools needed to analyze large amounts of data. In some cases, data sizes can be as high as terabytes, and Liu and his colleagues worked with IU's University Information Technology Services to build scalable data archives of highly dynamic cell images, centralizing data storage, data transfer, and data processing.