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Exchange dynamics and kinetic control of gene regulation complexes
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DOI：10.1038/s41580-026-00991-z.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
The classical view of gene regulation complexes as stable, modular machines needs amending based on emerging insights into their dynamic nature. Whereas recent advances in structural biology have provided high-resolution snapshots of these complex machines, single-molecule and live-cell imaging techniques reveal a more fluid picture: biological function emerges not from static architectures but from transient, dynamic assemblies that continually exchange their components and whose activity is tuned through kinetic control. In this Perspective, we propose dynamic, reversible assembly as a framework for understanding the mechanisms of RNA processing and gene regulation. Drawing on specific case studies from ribosome biogenesis, spliceosomes, small RNAs and transcription factors, we explore how ribonucleoprotein complexes and transcriptional ensembles form and dissolve in time, how protein intrinsically disordered regions collectively enable transcription factors to achieve specificity, and the kinetic principles underlying the fidelity, adaptability and robustness of cellular processes and their related pathologies. In doing so, we show how molecular interactions are governed by rates rather than by equilibrium affinities, providing a foundation for time-integrated structure–function studies. Recent evidence reveals how gene expression complexes form transient assemblies that continually exchange their subunits under kinetic control. This Perspective proposes that these dynamics form the basis of RNA processing and gene regulation.
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