Unusual histone modifications in Trypanosoma brucei
- 24 March 2006
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in FEBS Letters
- Vol. 580 (9), 2306-2310
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.febslet.2006.03.044
Abstract
To start to understand the role of chromatin structure in regulating transcription in trypanosomes, we analyzed covalent modifications on the four core histones of Trypanosoma brucei . We found unusually few modifications in the N-terminal tails, which are abundantly modified in other organisms and whose sequences, but not composition, are highly divergent in trypanosomes. In contrast, the C-terminal region of H2A appears to be hyper-acetylated. Surprisingly, the N-terminal alanines of H2A, H2B, and H4, were mono-methylated, a modification that has not been described previously for histones. Possible functions and evolutionary explanations for these unusual histone modifications are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 16 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Genome of the African Trypanosome Trypanosoma bruceiScience, 2005
- A chromosomal SIR2 homologue with both histone NAD-dependent ADP-ribosyltransferase and deacetylase activities is involved in DNA repair in Trypanosoma bruceiThe EMBO Journal, 2003
- Histone and chromatin cross-talkCurrent Opinion in Cell Biology, 2003
- Histone deacetylases in Trypanosoma brucei: two are essential and another is required for normal cell cycle progressionMolecular Microbiology, 2002
- Isolation and Characterization of Subnuclear Compartments from Trypanosoma bruceiPublished by American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (ASBMB) ,2001
- Nuclear gene transcription and chromatin in Trypanosoma bruceiInternational Journal for Parasitology, 2001
- The molecular evolution of trypanosomatidaeAdvances in Parasitology, 2001
- Antigenic variation in trypanosomes: Enhanced phenotypic variation in a eukaryotic parasiteAdvances in Parasitology, 2001
- The language of covalent histone modificationsNature, 2000
- Trypanosoma brucei variant surface glycoprotein regulation involves coupled activation/inactivation and chromatin remodeling of expression sitesThe EMBO Journal, 1999