In the mouse liver, circadian transcriptional rhythms are necessary for metabolic homeostasis. Whether dynamic epigenomic modifications are associated with transcript oscillations has not been systematically investigated. We found that several antisense RNA, lincRNA, and microRNA transcripts also showed circadian oscillations in adult mouse livers. Robust transcript oscillations often correlate...

In mammalian cells, genomic DNA is packaged with histone proteins and condensed into chromatin. To gain access to the DNA, chromatin remodelling required that enhanced through post-translational modifications, which subsequently stimulate processes including repair transcription. Histone acetylation one of most well understood modifications controlled by acetyltransferases (HATs) deacetylases (...

It was previously thought that epigenetic histone modifications of mammalian transposable elements (TEs) serve primarily to defend the genome against deleterious effects associated with their activity. However, we recently showed that, genome-wide, human TEs can also be epigenetically modified in a manner consistent with their ability to regulate host genes. Here, we explore the ability of TE s...

Covalent histone modifications are highly conserved and play multiple roles in eukaryotic transcription regulation. Here, we mapped 26 histone modifications genome-wide in exponentially growing yeast and during a dramatic transcriptional reprogramming-the response to diamide stress. We extend prior studies showing that steady-state histone modification patterns reflect genomic processes, especi...

It has recently been shown that nucleosome distribution, histone modifications and RNA polymerase II (Pol II) occupancy show preferential association with exons ("exon-intron marking"), linking chromatin structure and function to co-transcriptional splicing in a variety of eukaryotes. Previous ChIP-sequencing studies suggested that these marking patterns reflect the nucleosomal landscape. By an...

Epigenetic dysregulation is being increasingly recognized as a hallmark of cancer. Post-translational modifications of histones, in particular, are known to play important roles gene expression alterations in cancer development and progression. Given their key involvement in the various stages of carcinogenesis, histone modifications are also being explored as potential biomarkers of disease pr...

The linker histones (H1 or H5) which play a key role in the folding of chromatin, are general repressors of gene expression. Nuclei of the mature chicken erythrocytes (and in some mammalian cells) contain both of them. Although the interaction of H5 with DNA is stronger than that of H1, it does not prevent the transcription of some erythroid-specific genes. It has been shown that some modificat...

How eukaryotic chromosomes are compacted during mitosis has been a leading question in cell biology since the nineteenth century. Non-histone proteins such as condensin complexes contribute to chromosome shaping, but appear not to be necessary for mitotic chromatin compaction. Histone modifications are known to affect chromatin structure. As histones undergo major changes in their post-translat...

The promoters of poised rRNA genes (rDNA) are marked by both euchromatic and heterochromatic histone modifications and are associated with two transcription factors, UBF and SL1 that nucleate transcription complex formation. Active rRNA genes contain only euchromatic histone modifications and are loaded with all components of transcriptional initiation complex including RNA polymerase I. Couple...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is characterized by steatosis or fat deposition in the liver and inflammation, which leads to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Induction of target genes without involving changes in DNA sequence seems to contribute greatly to liver injury. Chromatin modifications including alterations in histones and DNA, as well as post-transcriptional changes collectively ...