Chromodomain蛋白在表观遗传调控中的功能

克罗莫结构域 (chromatin organization modifier domain, chromodomain)是与染色质结构相关的进化上保守的蛋白质模体。Chromodomain中芳香族氨基酸残基组成保守的疏水“box”结构与“组蛋白密码”中的二甲基或三甲基修饰的H3K9和H3K27结合, 同时chromodomain也可识别非组蛋白和特定的核酸结构。不同类型的chromodomain蛋白在基因转录调节、基因组重排修复和染色质重塑等过程中发挥重要调控作用, 从多个层次参与染色质表观遗传调节过程。本文综述chromodomain的分类和结构特征, 探讨进化中不同的chromodomain蛋白在细胞中的功能多样性, 为进一步研究chromodomain蛋白在细胞中的作用机制提供参考。

The Role of Chromodomain-containing Proteins in Epigenetic Regulation

The chromodomain (chromatin organization modifier domain) was identified as an evolutionary conserved protein motif from the studies in chromatin structure. The chromodomain motif reads the trimethylated/ dimethylated H3K9 and H3K27 with a hydrophobic “box” which consists of aromatic amino acid residues. The chromodomain motif also binds other non histone partners to interact specific nucleic acid sequences. The chromodomain-containing proteins play important roles in regulating gene activation, genome recombination and repair, and chromatin remodeling in different organisms. These proteins modulate epigenetic processes through various signal pathways. In this review, we discussed different chromodomain-containing proteins according to their structures, recognition targets and action mechanisms.