组蛋白H2B泛素化修饰研究进展

组蛋白翻译后修饰包括乙酰化、磷酸化、甲基化、泛素化和糖基化等。其中,组蛋白泛素化可能与基因的转录调控、异染色质的基因沉默、DNA修复等有关。笔者介绍了组蛋白H2B的泛素化机制及其意义。     

Akt-mediated phosphorylation of EZH2 suppresses methylation of lysine 27 in histone H3

Enhancer of Zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is a methyltransferase that plays an important role in many biological processes through its ability to trimethylate lysine 27 in histone H3. Here, we show that Akt phosphorylates EZH2 at serine 21 and suppresses its methyltransferase activity by impeding EZH2 binding to histone H3, which results in a decrease of lysine 27 trimethylation and derepression of silenced genes. Our results imply that Akt regulates the methylation activity, through phosphorylation of EZH2, which may contribute to oncogenesis.     

FSH处理对猪颗粒细胞中类固醇合成酶基因的表达及其调控区组蛋白H3修饰的影响

【目的】研究FSH处理对猪卵巢颗粒细胞类固醇合成酶、垂体激素受体、凋亡相关等基因表达的影响及此过程中组蛋白H3修饰的变化情况。【方法】首先,采集猪卵巢组织并用注射器抽取方法收集卵泡颗粒细胞,用含血清体系体外培养颗粒细胞至贴壁,血清饥饿16h后用终浓度5IU·mL~(-1)的FSH处理24h,并收集细胞。其次,提取细胞m RNA,采用qRT-PCR方法检测类固醇合成酶(STAR、CYP11A1、HSD3B和CYP19A1)、垂体激素受体(FSHR和LHR)、凋亡相关基因(XIAP和Fas L)m RNA的表达变化,最后,相同处理后固定细胞,采用染色质免疫沉淀结合q PCR(Ch IP-q PCR)方法检测类固醇合成酶基因STAR、CYP19A1和HSD3B上游转录调控区组蛋白H3修饰(H3K4me2、H3K4me3、H3K9ac和H3K14ac)状况。【结果】5IU·mL~(-1)的FSH处理引起类固醇合成酶基因STAR、CYP19A1和HSD3B分别为2倍(P0.01)、2.8倍(P0.01)和3.6倍(P0.05)的显著上调,而CYP11A1表达水平没有显著变化;FSH处理对垂体激素受体FSHR、LHR和凋亡相关基因XIAP、Fas L影响不显著。在上调的三个类固醇合成酶基因中,HSD3B调控区组蛋白H3修饰变化最为显著,H3K4me2、H3K4me3、H3K9ac和H3K14ac结合分别有14.7倍(P0.01)、13.6倍(P0.01)、19.7(P0.01)倍和2.5倍(P0.05)的显著上调;STAR基因调控区的H3K9ac在处理后有11.1倍的显著下降(P0.05);CYP19A基因调控区的H3K4me3和H3K9ac分别有0.5倍的上调(P0.01)和10.4倍(P0.01)的下降,其余组蛋白修饰在处理前后没有显著变化。【结论】FSH处理24h对颗粒细胞类固醇合成酶基因转录有显著上调作用,对其转录过程有H3组蛋白修饰参与,组蛋白修饰模式具有基因特异性。垂体激素受体和凋亡相关基因的应答可能需要FSH和其他因素的联合作用。     

Clustering of human H1 and core histone genes

An H1 histone gene was isolated from a 15-kilobase human DNA genomic sequence. The presence of H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 genes in this same 15-kilobase fragment indicates that mammalian core and H1 histone genes are clustered.     

Two histone marks establish the inner centromere and chromosome bi-orientation

For proper partitioning of chromosomes in mitosis, the chromosomal passenger complex (CPC) including Aurora B and survivin must be localized at the center of paired kinetochores, at the site called the inner centromere. It is largely unknown what defines the inner centromere and how the CPC is targeted to this site. Here, we show that the phosphorylation of histone H3-threonine 3 (H3-pT3) mediated by Haspin cooperates with Bub1-mediated histone 2A-serine 121 (H2A-S121) phosphorylation in targeting the CPC to the inner centromere in fission yeast and human cells. H3-pT3 promotes nucleosome binding of survivin, whereas phosphorylated H2A-S121 facilitates the binding of shugoshin, the centromeric CPC adaptor. Haspin colocalizes with cohesin by associating with Pds5, whereas Bub1 localizes at kinetochores. Thus, the inner centromere is defined by intersection of two histone kinases.     

Protein-DNA interactions in vivo upstream of a cell cycle-regulated human H4 histone gene

Cell cycle-dependent histone genes are transcribed at a basal level throughout the cell cycle, with a three- to fivefold increase during early S phase. Protein-DNA interactions in the 5' promoter region of a cell cycle-regulated human H4 histone gene have been analyzed at single-nucleotide resolution in vivo. This region contains two sites, with four potential protein-binding domains, at which the DNA is protected from reaction with dimethyl sulfate in cells and from digestion with deoxyribonuclease I in nuclei. These protein-DNA interactions persist during all phases of the cell cycle and dissociate with 0.16 to 0.2M sodium chloride.     

植物中泛素/蛋白酶体介导的蛋白质水解对细胞周期调控的研究

细胞周期进程要求细胞周期调控蛋白如周期蛋白依赖性蛋白激酶(CDKs)和周期蛋白(Cyclins)在细胞中周期性的出现。这些调节蛋白被控制在几个水平,包括表达水平、磷酸化水平以及与其他调控蛋白之间的互作。最近,这些蛋白的可控性和程序性破坏在细胞周期调控中所起的作用的机理也越来越清楚,并且26S蛋白酶体与蛋白的破坏有关。例如,在细胞周期依赖性途径中Cyc(cyclin)A,Cyc B,Cyc D和B-CDK是通过26S蛋白酶体降解的。综述了植物中通过泛素/蛋白酶体介导的蛋白质水解对细胞周期调控的最新进展。     

Dependence of heterochromatic histone H3 methylation patterns on the Arabidopsis gene DDM1

The Arabidopsis gene DDM1 is required to maintain DNA methylation levels and is responsible for transposon and transgene silencing. However, rather than encoding a DNA methyltransferase, DDM1 has similarity to the SWI/SNF family of adenosine triphosphate-dependent chromatin remodeling genes, suggesting an indirect role in DNA methylation. Here we show that DDM1 is also required to maintain histone H3 methylation patterns. In wild-type heterochromatin, transposons and silent genes are associated with histone H3 methylated at lysine 9, whereas known genes are preferentially associated with methylated lysine 4. In ddm1 heterochromatin, DNA methylation is lost, and methylation of lysine 9 is largely replaced by methylation of lysine 4. Because DNA methylation has recently been shown to depend on histone H3 lysine 9 methylation, our results suggest that transposon methylation may be guided by histone H3 methylation in plant genomes. This would account for the epigenetic inheritance of hypomethylated DNA once histone H3 methylation patterns are altered.