doi:10.1369/jhc.2008.951251
Volume 56 (8): 711-721, 2008 Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc.
Histone Modifications and Nuclear Architecture: A Review
Laboratory of Molecular Cytology and Cytometry, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Brno, Czech Republic Correspondence to: Eva Bártová, Laboratory of Molecular Cytology and Cytometry, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Královopolská 135, 612 65, Brno, Czech Republic. E-mail: bartova{at}ibp.cz Epigenetic modifications, such as acetylation, phosphorylation, methylation, ubiquitination, and ADP ribosylation, of the highly conserved core histones, H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, influence the genetic potential of DNA. The enormous regulatory potential of histone modification is illustrated in the vast array of epigenetic markers found throughout the genome. More than the other types of histone modification, acetylation and methylation of specific lysine residues on N-terminal histone tails are fundamental for the formation of chromatin domains, such as euchromatin, and facultative and constitutive heterochromatin. In addition, the modification of histones can cause a region of chromatin to undergo nuclear compartmentalization and, as such, specific epigenetic markers are non-randomly distributed within interphase nuclei. In this review, we summarize the principles behind epigenetic compartmentalization and the functional consequences of chromatin arrangement within interphase nuclei. (J Histochem Cytochem 56:711–721, 2008)
Key Words: histones histone modifications nuclear architecture histone deacetylase inhibitors
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