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The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin

Centromeres, sites of kinetochore assembly, are important for chromosome stability and integrity. Most eukaryotes have regional centromeres epigenetically specified by the presence of the histone H3 variant CENP-A. CENP-A chromatin is often surrounded by pericentromeric regions packaged into transcr...

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Autores principales: Freire-Benéitez, Verónica, Price, R. Jordan, Buscaino, Alessia
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4871872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27242771
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00759
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author Freire-Benéitez, Verónica
Price, R. Jordan
Buscaino, Alessia
author_facet Freire-Benéitez, Verónica
Price, R. Jordan
Buscaino, Alessia
author_sort Freire-Benéitez, Verónica
collection PubMed
description Centromeres, sites of kinetochore assembly, are important for chromosome stability and integrity. Most eukaryotes have regional centromeres epigenetically specified by the presence of the histone H3 variant CENP-A. CENP-A chromatin is often surrounded by pericentromeric regions packaged into transcriptionally silent heterochromatin. Candida albicans, the most common human fungal pathogen, possesses small regional centromeres assembled into CENP-A chromatin. The chromatin state of C. albicans pericentromeric regions is unknown. Here, for the first time, we address this question. We find that C. albicans pericentromeres are assembled into an intermediate chromatin state bearing features of both euchromatin and heterochromatin. Pericentromeric chromatin is associated with nucleosomes that are highly acetylated, as found in euchromatic regions of the genome; and hypomethylated on H3K4, as found in heterochromatin. This intermediate chromatin state is inhibitory to transcription and partially represses expression of proximal genes and inserted marker genes. Our analysis identifies a new chromatin state associated with pericentromeric regions.
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spelling pubmed-48718722016-05-30 The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin Freire-Benéitez, Verónica Price, R. Jordan Buscaino, Alessia Front Microbiol Microbiology Centromeres, sites of kinetochore assembly, are important for chromosome stability and integrity. Most eukaryotes have regional centromeres epigenetically specified by the presence of the histone H3 variant CENP-A. CENP-A chromatin is often surrounded by pericentromeric regions packaged into transcriptionally silent heterochromatin. Candida albicans, the most common human fungal pathogen, possesses small regional centromeres assembled into CENP-A chromatin. The chromatin state of C. albicans pericentromeric regions is unknown. Here, for the first time, we address this question. We find that C. albicans pericentromeres are assembled into an intermediate chromatin state bearing features of both euchromatin and heterochromatin. Pericentromeric chromatin is associated with nucleosomes that are highly acetylated, as found in euchromatic regions of the genome; and hypomethylated on H3K4, as found in heterochromatin. This intermediate chromatin state is inhibitory to transcription and partially represses expression of proximal genes and inserted marker genes. Our analysis identifies a new chromatin state associated with pericentromeric regions. Frontiers Media S.A. 2016-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4871872/ /pubmed/27242771 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00759 Text en Copyright © 2016 Freire-Benéitez, Price and Buscaino. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Freire-Benéitez, Verónica
Price, R. Jordan
Buscaino, Alessia
The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title_full The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title_fullStr The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title_full_unstemmed The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title_short The Chromatin of Candida albicans Pericentromeres Bears Features of Both Euchromatin and Heterochromatin
title_sort chromatin of candida albicans pericentromeres bears features of both euchromatin and heterochromatin
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4871872/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27242771
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2016.00759
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