{"id":12938,"date":"2026-04-30T12:21:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/ai-tool-reveals-dna-exists-in-partially-open-states-drug-target-review\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T12:21:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T12:21:26","slug":"ai-tool-reveals-dna-exists-in-partially-open-states-drug-target-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/ai-tool-reveals-dna-exists-in-partially-open-states-drug-target-review\/","title":{"rendered":"AI tool reveals DNA exists in partially open states – Drug Target Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Drug Target Review. This site uses cookies. Read our policy<\/a>.
By Drug Target Review<\/a><\/span>2026-04-30T12:00:00+01:00<\/span>
Researchers have identified 14 distinct structural states of nucleosomes using AI analysis, revealing that over 85 percent show some level of distortion, suggesting the genome operates as a finely tuned control system rather than a binary on-off switch. 
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Scientists have discovered a new way that cells organise and access DNA<\/a>, going against decades of assumptions about how genes are switched on and off.
Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes<\/a> and the Arc Institute<\/a> have found that DNA wrapped around protein structures, known as nucleosomes, is not simply locked away or accessible. Instead, much of it exists in a partially open state, allowing more nuanced control of gene activity.
The study<\/a> suggests that the human genome operates less like a simple on-off switch and more like a finely tuned control system. 
Every cell in the human body contains more than six feet of DNA, tightly packed into a microscopic space. To achieve this, DNA is wrapped around spool-like protein clusters called nucleosomes, forming a structure known as chromatin. 
Every cell in the human body contains more than six feet of DNA, tightly packed into a microscopic space
For years, scientists believed DNA wrapped around nucleosomes was largely inaccessible, meaning genes in those regions were inactive. Only unwrapped DNA was thought to be available for use by the cell \u2013 these new findings challenge this view.
\u201cThe conception before was that when it came to nucleosomes, genes were either turned on or off, but we\u2019re finding it\u2019s more like a volume dial,\u201d says Gladstone Investigator Dr Vijay Ramani, one of the scientists who led the study. \u201cThis is a completely new organisational code for the genome.\u201d
To explore DNA packaging in greater detail, the research team developed an artificial intelligence-powered tool called Iteratively Defined Lengths of Inaccessibility (IDLI).
The method builds on earlier work from the Ramani lab, which created a sequencing technique known as SAMOSA to map nucleosome positions along individual DNA strands.
Unlike approaches that came before it, IDLI examines not only where nucleosomes sit on DNA but also their internal structure. By analysing data in two dimensions, it can detect subtle variations in how tightly DNA is wrapped.
Each nucleosome is made up of eight building blocks. When some of these are missing or loosely connected, parts of the DNA become partially exposed.
Using the new tool, scientists analysed chromatin from mouse embryonic stem cells and found that more than 85 percent of nucleosomes showed some level of distortion.
\u201cOur findings suggest that the genome is far more dynamic and accessible that the scientific community realised,\u201d Ramani says.
Importantly, these distortions were not random. The team identified 14 distinct structural states of nucleosomes, each linked to different levels of gene activity.
Our findings suggest that the genome is far more dynamic and accessible that the scientific community realised
The same patterns were observed in human stem cells developing into liver-like cells and in liver cells taken from mice. This indicated a consistent biological mechanism was at play.
\u201cBefore this, our understanding of chromatin was a bit like reading a text that only had sound and silence \u2013 just two states of being,\u201d said Dr Hani Goodarzi, an investigator at the Arc Institute who co-led the study. \u201cNow we can see that it\u2019s much more nuanced. There are letters and words and we uncovered a new kind of grammar that controls them.\u201d
The researchers also found that transcription factors, proteins that regulate gene activity, play a direct role in shaping nucleosome structure. Removing two of these proteins altered DNA accessibility patterns in predictable ways.
\u201cThis adds to the many different ways in which a cell can tune things up and down, by making parts of the DNA more or less accessible,\u201d says Ramani.
The findings could improve the understanding of complex diseases such as cancer and neurodegenerative conditions, where subtle changes in gene activity play are key.
\u201cThese are precisely the states that end up being quite important in terms of disease relevance,\u201d says Ramani. \u201cMost complex diseases revolve around gradation; maybe a gene is on but at half the level it would normally be, or maybe it\u2019s on in the wrong cell type.\u201d
The team also believes the research could advance studies of ageing, as chromatin structure changes over time and may be partly reversible.
\u201cWe\u2019re reading the language, but ultimately, we want to learn how to speak it so that we can control and modify it,\u201d Dr Goodarzi says. \u201cWe\u2019re not here just to observe biology; at some point we want to intervene.\u201d
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source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Drug Target Review. This site uses cookies. Read our policy.By Drug Target Review2026-04-30T12:00:00+01:00Researchers have identified 14 distinct structural states of nucleosomes using AI analysis, revealing that over 85 percent show some level of distortion, suggesting the genome operates as a finely tuned control system rather than a binary on-off switch. Scientists have discovered a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}