Histone H2A.Z inheritance during the cell cycle and its impact on promoter organization and dynamics

Maxim Nekrasov, Jana Amrichova, Brian J. Parker, Tatiana A. Soboleva, Cameron Jack, Rohan Williams, Gavin A. Huttley, David J. Tremethick*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    92 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Although it has been clearly established that well-positioned histone H2A.Z-containing nucleosomes flank the nucleosome-depleted region (NDR) at the transcriptional start site (TSS) of active mammalian genes, how this chromatin-based information is transmitted through the cell cycle is unknown. We show here that in mouse trophoblast stem cells, the amount of histone H2A.Z at promoters decreased during S phase, coinciding with homotypic (H2A.Z-H2A.Z) nucleosomes flanking the TSS becoming heterotypic (H2A.Z-H2A). To our surprise these nucleosomes remained heterotypic at M phase. At the TSS, we identified an unstable heterotypic histone H2A.Z-containing nucleosome in G1 phase that was lost after DNA replication. These dynamic changes at the TSS mirror a global expansion of the NDR at S and M phases, which, unexpectedly, is unrelated to transcriptional activity. Coincident with the loss of histone H2A.Z at promoters, histone H2A.Z is targeted to the centromere when mitosis begins.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1076-1083
    Number of pages8
    JournalNature Structural and Molecular Biology
    Volume19
    Issue number11
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Nov 2012

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