Cargando…

Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation

BACKGROUND: Post-translational histone modifications (PTMs) and their specific distribution on genes play a crucial role in the control of gene expression, but the regulation of their dynamics upon gene activation and differentiation is still poorly understood. Here, we exploit the unique genome org...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Heyse, Katharina Sarah, Weber, Susanne Erika, Lipps, Hans-Joachim
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19930675
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-10-554
_version_ 1782174918970966016
author Heyse, Katharina Sarah
Weber, Susanne Erika
Lipps, Hans-Joachim
author_facet Heyse, Katharina Sarah
Weber, Susanne Erika
Lipps, Hans-Joachim
author_sort Heyse, Katharina Sarah
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Post-translational histone modifications (PTMs) and their specific distribution on genes play a crucial role in the control of gene expression, but the regulation of their dynamics upon gene activation and differentiation is still poorly understood. Here, we exploit the unique genome organization of ciliates to analyse PTM dynamics during gene activation in the differentiated cell and during nuclear differentiation. In the macronucleus of these cells the DNA is organized into nanochromosomes which represent independent functional units. Therefore, ciliated protozoa represent a simplistic model system to analyse the relevance of histone modifications and their localization for gene expression and differentiation. RESULTS: We analysed the distribution of three PTMs on six individual nanochromosomes, two of which are silenced in the vegetative cell and only activated during sexual reproduction. We show that a specific relocation of these PTMs correlates with gene activation. Moreover, macronuclear-destined sequences in the differentiating macronucleus display a distribution of PTMs which differs significantly from the PTM patterns of actively transcribed genes. CONCLUSION: We show for the first time that a relocation of specific histone modifications takes place during activation of genes. In addition, we demonstrate that genes in a differentiating nucleus are characterised by a specific distribution and composition of PTMs. This allows us to propose a mechanistic model about the relevance of PTMs for gene activation, gene silencing and nuclear differentiation. Results described here will be relevant for eukaryotic cells in general.
format Text
id pubmed-2787535
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2009
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-27875352009-12-03 Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation Heyse, Katharina Sarah Weber, Susanne Erika Lipps, Hans-Joachim BMC Genomics Research article BACKGROUND: Post-translational histone modifications (PTMs) and their specific distribution on genes play a crucial role in the control of gene expression, but the regulation of their dynamics upon gene activation and differentiation is still poorly understood. Here, we exploit the unique genome organization of ciliates to analyse PTM dynamics during gene activation in the differentiated cell and during nuclear differentiation. In the macronucleus of these cells the DNA is organized into nanochromosomes which represent independent functional units. Therefore, ciliated protozoa represent a simplistic model system to analyse the relevance of histone modifications and their localization for gene expression and differentiation. RESULTS: We analysed the distribution of three PTMs on six individual nanochromosomes, two of which are silenced in the vegetative cell and only activated during sexual reproduction. We show that a specific relocation of these PTMs correlates with gene activation. Moreover, macronuclear-destined sequences in the differentiating macronucleus display a distribution of PTMs which differs significantly from the PTM patterns of actively transcribed genes. CONCLUSION: We show for the first time that a relocation of specific histone modifications takes place during activation of genes. In addition, we demonstrate that genes in a differentiating nucleus are characterised by a specific distribution and composition of PTMs. This allows us to propose a mechanistic model about the relevance of PTMs for gene activation, gene silencing and nuclear differentiation. Results described here will be relevant for eukaryotic cells in general. BioMed Central 2009-11-24 /pmc/articles/PMC2787535/ /pubmed/19930675 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-10-554 Text en Copyright ©2009 Heyse et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research article
Heyse, Katharina Sarah
Weber, Susanne Erika
Lipps, Hans-Joachim
Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title_full Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title_fullStr Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title_full_unstemmed Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title_short Histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
title_sort histone modifications are specifically relocated during gene activation and nuclear differentiation
topic Research article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2787535/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19930675
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-10-554
work_keys_str_mv AT heysekatharinasarah histonemodificationsarespecificallyrelocatedduringgeneactivationandnucleardifferentiation
AT webersusanneerika histonemodificationsarespecificallyrelocatedduringgeneactivationandnucleardifferentiation
AT lippshansjoachim histonemodificationsarespecificallyrelocatedduringgeneactivationandnucleardifferentiation