DNA on a Spool

By: Lynn Thomasson

Imagine winding a long thread around a spool. Now imagine the thread is actually a DNA strand just beginning the cycle of DNA replication. But before DNA can make a copy of itself, the tens of thousands of DNA strands must organize and coil around spools – proteins called histones. You can find histones in every living cell.

Alex Berkow, a senior biology major, works in a lab studying some of the proteins that help create and regulate histones. Without these proteins, there would be no histones, no DNA replication and no cell reproduction.

How these proteins interact and regulate histones remains a mystery to scientists. By creating clones of these proteins, called sm-like protein 11, Stem-Loop Binding Protein and Zinc Finger Protein, Berkow works to understand how these proteins behave.

Though Berkow learned about many of the techniques he used in the laboratory first in the textbook, he said the lab let him see the practice in action. Berkow said, “It was a thrill to see all the techniques I’ve learned about in my classes.”

Berkow says his experience in the laboratory has guided his thoughts on what to do after graduation – whether to go to graduate school, the workplace or the Peace Corps. “If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have this perspective,” he said. Berkow said he enjoys the atmosphere of his biology lab. He goes there for a place to study and even hangs out with some of his coworkers during his free time. While Berkow started working in the lab during the end of his sophomore year, he encourages students to get into research as early as possible. “Give it a shot. You could love it.”

Learn more about Alex Berkow’s work in Dr. William Marzluff’s Lab web site (http://www.unc.edu/depts/marzluff/ )

Endeavors Magazine “Histone Tales” (http://research.unc.edu/endeavors/fall2002/histone_tales.html)

< back to research