Epigenetic engineering: Histone H3K9 acetylation is compatible with kinetochore structure and function

Bergmann, J. H., Jakubsche, J. N., Martins, N. M., Kagansky, A., Nakano, M., Kimura, H., Kelly, D. A., Turner, B. M., Masumoto, H., Larionov, V., Earnshaw, W. C. (January 2012) Epigenetic engineering: Histone H3K9 acetylation is compatible with kinetochore structure and function. Journal of Cell Science, 125 (2). pp. 411-421. ISSN 00219533 (ISSN)

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URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22331359
DOI: 10.1242/jcs.090639

Abstract

Human kinetochores are transcriptionally active, producing very low levels of transcripts of the underlying alpha-satellite DNA. However, it is not known whether kinetochores can tolerate acetylated chromatin and the levels of transcription that are characteristic of housekeeping genes, or whether kinetochore-associated 'centrochromatin', despite being transcribed at a low level, is essentially a form of repressive chromatin. Here, we have engineered two types of acetylated chromatin within the centromere of a synthetic human artificial chromosome. Tethering a minimal NF-κB p65 activation domain within kinetochore-associated chromatin produced chromatin with high levels of histone H3 acetylated on lysine 9 (H3K9ac) and an ~10-fold elevation in transcript levels, but had no substantial effect on kinetochore assembly or function. By contrast, tethering the herpes virus VP16 activation domain produced similar modifications in the chromatin but resulted in an ~150-fold elevation in transcripts, approaching the level of transcription of an endogenous housekeeping gene. This rapidly inactivated kinetochores, causing a loss of assembled CENP-A and blocking further CENP-A assembly. Our data reveal that functional centromeres in vivo show a remarkable plasticity - kinetochores tolerate profound changes to their chromatin environment, but appear to be critically sensitive to the level of centromeric transcription. © 2012.

Item Type: Paper
Uncontrolled Keywords: CENP-A Centromere Chromatin Epigenetics Human artificial chromosome Kinetochore centromere protein A histone H3 histone H3K9 nuclear protein protein VP16 RNA polymerase II synaptotagmin I transcription factor RelA unclassified drug article artificial chromosome genetic engineering genetic transcription histone acetylation housekeeping gene human human cell nonhuman plasticity priority journal protein assembly protein function protein structure
Subjects: bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > enzymes
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types > histone
bioinformatics > genomics and proteomics > genetics & nucleic acid processing > protein structure, function, modification > protein types
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Spector lab
CSHL Post Doctoral Fellows
Depositing User: Matt Covey
Date: January 2012
Date Deposited: 31 Jan 2013 21:29
Last Modified: 01 May 2013 20:14
PMCID: PMC3283876
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/26902

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