CLOCK acetylates (Ac) histones H3 and H4 in nucleosomes (green) to confer 'open' chromatin structure and enable CLOCK-BMAL1 to bind to the E-boxes in cognate promoters and turn on transcription.
Removing the clock gene BMAL1 makes bacteria-engulfing defence cells in the body more effective, a University of Manchester and University of Oxford study published in the journal PNAS has found. This ...