Four amino acids guide the assembly or disassembly of Arabidopsis histone H3.3-containing nucleosomes

Shi, L., Wang, J., Hong, F., Spector, D. L., Fang, Y. (2011) Four amino acids guide the assembly or disassembly of Arabidopsis histone H3.3-containing nucleosomes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108 (26). pp. 10574-10578. ISSN 0027-8424

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URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21670303
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1017882108

Abstract

The histone variant H3.3 and the canonical histone H3.1, which differ in only 4- to 5-aa positions, are coexpressed in complex multicellular eukaryotes from fly to human and plant. H3.3 is mainly associated with active chromatin by replacing H3.1 through chaperones such as histone regulator A, death domain associated protein DAXX, thalassemia/mental retardation syndrome X-linked homolog ATRX, or proto-oncogene protein DEK and plays important roles in the germline, epigenetic memory, and reprogramming. However, the signals within H3.3 that serve as a guide for its dynamic deposition or depletion in plant chromatin are not clear. Here, we show that Arabidopsis histone H3.3 differs from H3.1 by 4-aa sites: amino acids 31, 41, 87, and 90. Although histone H3.1 is highly enriched in chromocenters, H3.3 is present in nucleolar foci in addition to being diffusely distributed in the nucleoplasm. We have evaluated the function of the 4 aa that differ between H3.1 and H3.3. We show that amino acid residue 87, and to some extent residue 90, of Arabidopsis histone H3.3 are critical for its deposition into rDNA arrays. When RNA polymerase I-directed nucleolar transcription is inhibited, wild type H3.3, but not H3.3 containing mutations at residues 31 and 41, is depleted from the rDNA arrays. Together, our results are consistent with a model in which amino acids 87 and 90 in the core domain of H3.3 guide nucleosome assembly, whereas amino acids 31 and 41 in the N-terminal tail of Arabidopsis H3.3 guide nucleosome disassembly in nucleolar rDNA.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: Amino Acid Sequence Amino Acids Arabidopsis Histones Molecular Sequence Data Nucleosomes Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > DNA, RNA structure, function, modification > nucleosome
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Spector lab
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > DNA Sequencing Service
CSHL Cancer Center Shared Resources > Microscopy Service
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: 2011
Date Deposited: 10 Dec 2012 20:03
Last Modified: 03 Jan 2018 17:26
PMCID: PMC3127877
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/26372

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