The Nucleus and gene expression issue of Current Opinion in Cell Biology is always tricky to put together. The field it covers is huge, and it is hard to judge to what degree one should present reviews of specialised issues as opposed to topics of more general interest; moreover, it is always difficult to strike the right balance between reviews of basic processes and reviews of regulation. In this issue we do not attempt to cover the entire field; instead, we have structured the volume round the various steps in gene expression, ending with several examples of specialised regulatory systems that are both of intrinsic mechanistic interest and of wider biological significance. The first nine reviews therefore follow events in mRNA generation, starting out at regulatory mechanisms operating at the chromatin template and the transcription machinery, moving via RNA processing to nuclear pores and transport, and ending with consideration of mRNA translation and turnover. The remaining five reviews examine some specialised mechanisms for transcription factor regulation, such as activation at cell membranes, and their use in maintaining circadian rhythms or controlling the cellular response to DNA damage, before returning to the chromosomes themselves with an examination of the role of the BRCA2 tumor suppressor gene in the maintenance of genome stability.
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