Faithful propagation of functionally distinct chromatin states is crucial for maintaining cellular identity, and its breakdown can lead to diseases such as cancer. Whereas mechanisms that sustain repressed states have been intensely studied, regulatory circuits that protect active chromatin from inactivating signals are not well understood. Here we report a positive feedback loop that preserves...

Apoptosis is a highly coordinated cell suicide mechanism in vertebrates. Phosphorylation of serine 14 of histone H2B, catalyzed by Mst1 kinase, has been linked to chromatin compaction during apoptosis. We extend these results to unicellular eukaryotes by demonstrating that H2B is specifically phosphorylated at serine 10 (S10) in a hydrogen peroxide-induced cell death pathway in S. cerevisiae. H...

OBJECTIVE Anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPAs) are characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, their presence years before the onset of clinical RA is perplexing. Although multiple putative citrullinated antigens have been identified, no studies have demonstrated the specific capacity of these antigens to initiate inflammatory arthritis. This study was undertaken to recapitul...

The N-terminal tail of histone H2B is believed to be involved in gene silencing, but how it exerts its function remains elusive. Here, we report the biochemical characterization of p14ARF tumor suppressor as a transcriptional repressor that selectively recognizes the unacetylated H2B tails on nucleosomes. The p14ARF-H2B tail interaction is functional, as the antagonistic effect of p14ARF on chr...

In eukaryotic nuclei, DNA is wrapped around a protein octamer composed of the core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, forming nucleosomes as the fundamental units of chromatin. The modification and deposition of specific histone variants play key roles in chromatin function. In this study, we established an in vitro system based on permeabilized cells that allows the assembly and exchange of histon...

Objective: Myh11 encodes a myosin heavy chain protein that is specifically expressed in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and important for maintaining vascular wall stability. The goal of this study to generate dual reporter mouse line definitive visualization MYH11 + SMCs vivo. Approach Results: We generated knock-in model by inserting LoxP-nlacZ-4XpolyA-LoxP-H2B-GFP-polyA-FRT-Neo-FRT cassette into ...

Extensive changes in posttranslational histone modifications accompany the rewiring of the transcriptional program during stem cell differentiation. However, the mechanisms controlling the changes in specific chromatin modifications and their function during differentiation remain only poorly understood. We show that histone H2B monoubiquitination (H2Bub1) significantly increases during differe...

The structure, genomic organization and transcription of the gene encoding histone H2B in the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi have been studied. This gene consists of a 746-nucleotide unit, tandemly repeated at least 18 times in each of two clusters. DNA probes corresponding to histones H2B and H3 hybridized to different chromosomes revealing that the genes coding for these two histones ar...

Oct-1 and a second, previously unidentified octamer-binding protein (Oct-R) have been identified in extracts of Xenopus laevis oocytes and embryos. Oct-1 does not bind to the octamer motif associated with certain Xenopus laevis histone H2B gene promoters, whereas Oct-R binds well to this motif, but only in the sequence context of the H2B gene promoter.

The interaction between histone and nonhistone chromatin proteins has been investigated by histone affinity chromatography, a technique that avoids precipitation of histone l nonhistone complexes. When nonhistone proteins labeled with 32P are loaded directly on histone-Sepharose columns, no binding of radioactivity to the column is observed. However, if labeled nonhistone proteins are mixed wit...