Histone acetylation reduces H1-mediated nucleosome interactions during chromatin assembly

During chromatin replication and nucleosome assembly, newly synthesized histone H4 is acetylated before it is deposited onto DNA, then deacetylated as assembly proceeds. In a previous study (Perry and Annunziato, Nucleic Acids Res. 17, 4275 [1989]) it was shown that when replication occurs in the presence of sodium butyrate (thereby inhibiting histone deacetylation), nascent chromatin fails to mature fully and instead remains preferentially sensitive to DNaseI, more soluble in magnesium, and depleted of histone H1 (relative to mature chromatin). In the following report the relationships between chromatin replication, histone acetylation, and H1-mediated nucleosome aggregation were further investigated. Chromatin was replicated in the presence or absence of sodium butyrate; isolated nucleosomes were stripped of linker histone, reconstituted with H1, and treated to produce Mg(2+)-soluble and Mg(2+)-insoluble chromatin fractions. Following the removal of H1, all solubility differences between chromatin replicated in sodium butyrate for 30 min (bu-chromatin) and control chromatin were lost. Reconstitution with H1 completely restored the preferential Mg(2+)-solubility of bu-chromatin, demonstrating that a reduced capacity for aggregation/condensation is an inherent feature of acetylated nascent nucleosomes; however, titration with excess H1 caused the solubility differences to be lost again. Moreover, when the core histone N-terminal "tails" (the sites of acetylation) were removed by trypsinization prior to reconstitution, H1 was unable to reestablish the altered solubility of chromatin replicated in butyrate. Thus, the core histone "tails," and the acetylation thereof, not only modulate H1-mediated nucleosome interactions in vitro, but also strongly influence the ability of H1 to differentiate between new and old nucleosomes. The data suggest a possible mechanism for the control of H1 deposition and/or chromatin folding during nucleosome assembly.     

Histone deacetylation is required for the maturation of newly replicated chromatin

The effects of inhibiting histone deacetylation on the maturation of newly replicated chromatin have been examined. HeLa cells were labeled with [3H]thymidine in the presence or absence of sodium butyrate; control experiments demonstrated that butyrate did not significantly inhibit DNA replication for at least 70 min. Like normal nascent chromatin, chromatin labeled for brief periods (0.5-1 min) in the presence of butyrate was more sensitive to digestion with DNase I and micrococcal nuclease than control bulk chromatin. However, chromatin replicated in butyrate did not mature as in normal replication, but instead retained approximately 50% of its heightened sensitivity to DNase I. Incubation of mature chromatin in butyrate for 1 h did not induce DNase I sensitivity: therefore, the presence of sodium butyrate was required during replication to preserve the increased digestibility of nascent chromatin DNA. In contrast, sodium butyrate did not inhibit or retard the maturation of newly replicated chromatin when assayed by micrococcal nuclease digestion, as determined by the following criteria: 1) digestion to acid solubility, 2) rate of conversion to mononucleosomes, 3) repeat length, and 4) presence of non-nucleosomal DNA. Consistent with the properties of chromatin replicated in butyrate, micrococcal nuclease also did not preferentially attack the internucleosomal linkers of chromatin regions acetylated in vivo. The observation of a novel chromatin replication intermediate, which is highly sensitive to DNase I but possesses normal resistance to micrococcal nuclease, suggests that nucleosome assembly and histone deacetylation are not obligatorily coordinated. Thus, while deacetylation is required for chromatin maturation, histone acetylation apparently affects chromatin organization at a level distinct from that of core particle or linker, possibly by altering higher order structure.     

Chromatin assembly during DNA replication in somatic cells.

Newly replicated DNA is assembled into chromatin through two principle pathways. Firstly, parental nucleosomes segregate to replicated DNA, and are transferred directly to one of the two daughter strands during replication fork passage. Secondly, chromatin assembly factors mediate de-novo assembly of nucleosomes on replicating DNA using newly synthesized and acetylated histone proteins. In somatic cells, chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) appears to be a key player in assembling new nucleosomes during DNA replication. It provides a molecular connection between newly synthesized histones and components of the DNA replication machinery during the S phase of the cell division cycle.     

Minichromosome assembly of non-integrated plasmid DNA transfected into mammalian cells.

The nucleoprotein structures formed on various plasmid expression vectors transfected into mammalian cells by both the calcium phosphate and DEAE-dextran methods have been studied. We demonstrate by a variety of means that mammalian cells are capable of rapidly assembling non-integrated circular plasmids (both replicating and non-replicating) into typical "minichromosomes" containing nucleosomes with a 190 bp repetitive spacing. Treatment of recipient cells with sodium butyrate for a short period of time (12-16 h) immediately following transfection markedly increased the DNase I digestion sensitivity of the newly assembled plasmid chromatin. Furthermore, minichromosomes isolated from such butyrate-treated cells are depleted in histone H1 and contain highly acetylated forms of histone H4. These findings are entirely consistent with our earlier speculation (Gorman et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 1044; 1983) that appropriate butyrate treatment might stimulate transient expression of newly transfected genes by facilitating their assembly into an "active" type of chromatin structure.     

The inheritance of histone modifications depends upon the location in the chromosome in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Histone modifications are important epigenetic features of chromatin that must be replicated faithfully. However, the molecular mechanisms required to duplicate and maintain histone modification patterns in chromatin remain to be determined. Here, we show that the introduction of histone modifications into newly deposited nucleosomes depends upon their location in the chromosome. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, newly deposited nucleosomes consisting of newly synthesized histone H3-H4 tetramers are distributed throughout the entire chromosome. Methylation of lysine 4 on histone H3 (H3-K4), a hallmark of euchromatin, is introduced into these newly deposited nucleosomes, regardless of whether the neighboring preexisting nucleosomes harbor the K4 mutation in histone H3. Furthermore, if the heterochromatin-binding protein Sir3 is unavailable during DNA replication, histone H3-K4 methylation is introduced onto newly deposited nucleosomes in telomeric heterochromatin. Thus, a conservative distribution model most accurately explains the inheritance of histone modifications because the location of histones within euchromatin or heterochromatin determines which histone modifications are introduced.     

The assembly of regularly spaced nucleosomes in the Xenopus oocyte S-150 extract is accompanied by deacetylation of histone H4

Histone proteins, which were assembled into chromatin using the Xenopus oocyte S-150 extract, were analyzed on acid-urea gels and Triton-acid-urea gels to determine their state of modification. We find that histone H4, which is present in a diacetylated form in the oocyte S-150, gradually loses its acetate groups as the DNA is packaged into chromatin. Thus, this process parallels the one observed in vivo during chromatin formation in growing eucaryotic cells. Histone H4 deacetylation in the oocyte S-150 is a DNA-dependent reaction. This reaction is blocked when butyrate (an inhibitor of histone deacetylase) is added at the onset of the chromatin assembly process. When butyrate is added at the end of the assembly process, no de novo acetylation of the nucleosomal histone H4 is observed. Chromatin with regularly spaced nucleosomes, displaying periodicities ranging from 160 to 220 base pairs, can be assembled in vitro with the oocyte S-150 (Rodríguez-Campos, A., Shimamura, A., and Worcel, A. (1989) J. Mol. Biol., in press). This chromatin may contain either deacetylated histone H4 when assembled under standard conditions or diacetylated H4 when assembled in the presence of butyrate. Both types of chromatin display identical structures upon digestion with nucleases. The potential applications of this system toward the study of the naturally occurring diacetylated histone H4 are discussed.     

Acetylation of histone H3 lysine 56 regulates replication-coupled nucleosome assembly

Chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF-1) and Rtt106 participate in the deposition of newly synthesized histones onto replicating DNA to form nucleosomes. This process is critical for the maintenance of genome stability and inheritance of functionally specialized chromatin structures in proliferating cells. However, the molecular functions of the acetylation of newly synthesized histones in this DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly pathway remain enigmatic. Here we show that histone H3 acetylated at lysine 56 (H3K56Ac) is incorporated onto replicating DNA and, by increasing the binding affinity of CAF-1 and Rtt106 for histone H3, H3K56Ac enhances the ability of these histone chaperones to assemble DNA into nucleosomes. Genetic analysis indicates that H3K56Ac acts in a nonredundant manner with the acetylation of the N-terminal residues of H3 and H4 in nucleosome assembly. These results reveal a mechanism by which H3K56Ac regulates replication-coupled nucleosome assembly mediated by CAF-1 and Rtt106.     

The sites of deposition of newly synthesized histone.

The chromosomal fragments produced by nuclease digestion of freshly replicated chromatin migrate more rapidly relative to bulk chromatin when analyzed in nucleoprotein gels. The cause of the anomalous migration has been studied and the evidence indicates that rather than reflecting a shorter nucleosomal repeat in vivo that it may be a consequence of nucleosome sliding during the digestion itself. The distinct electrophoretic characteristics of nucleosomal material containing newly replicated DNA have enabled us to examine their histone composition by two dimensional electrophoresis. We find that nucleosomes containing new DNA also contain newly synthesized histones H3 and H4. In contrast more than 50% of newly synthesized H2A and H2B, and essentially all of new H1, are deposited at sites on the bulk chromatin distinct from that material containing newly replicated DNA. In addition we show that newly synthesized histones H3 and H4 are bound unusually weakly when they first become associated with the chromatin.     

Assembly of newly replicated chromatin.

Mild staphylococcal nuclease digestions under isotonic conditions release fragments of a 200 Å diameter fiber from nuclei of Drosophila melanogaster tissue culture cells. These soluble fragments have high sedimentation coefficients (30–100S) and show tightly packed nucleosomes in the electron microscope. Under the same conditions, newly replicated chromatin is released as more slowly sedimenting fragments (14S). Within 20 min after DNA replication, the nascent chromatin gradually matures into compact supranucleosomal structures which are indistinguishable from bulk chromatin on the isokinetic sucrose gradients.We have used this fractionation technique to examine the question of the fate and assembly of the new histones. After short pulses with either ³⁵S-methionine or ³H-lysine, the radioactive histones do not co-sediment with the bulk chromatin but appear instead in the fractions where the newly replicated DNA is found. Furthermore, the various nascent histones appear in different fractions on the gradient: histones H3 and H4 in 10–15S structures, histones H2A and H2B in 15–50S structures and histone H1 in 30–100S structures. These results, together with the analysis of pulse and pulse-chase experiments of both nascent DNA and histones, strongly suggest that histones H3 and H4 are deposited first on the nascent DNA (during or slightly after the DNA is replicated), histones H2A and H2B are deposited next (2–10 min later) and histone H1 is deposited last (10–20 min after DNA replication). A high turnover 20,000 dalton protein is also associated with the newly replicated chromatin.     

Nucleosome assembly protein 1 exchanges histone H2A-H2B dimers and assists nucleosome sliding

Eukaryotic chromatin is highly dynamic and turns over rapidly even in the absence of DNA replication. Here we show that the acidic histone chaperone nucleosome assembly protein 1 (NAP-1) from yeast reversibly removes and replaces histone protein dimer H2A-H2B or histone variant dimers from assembled nucleosomes, resulting in active histone exchange. Transient removal of H2A-H2B dimers facilitates nucleosome sliding along the DNA to a thermodynamically favorable position. Histone exchange as well as nucleosome sliding is independent of ATP and relies on the presence of the C-terminal acidic domain of yeast NAP-1, even though this region is not required for histone binding and chromatin assembly. Our results suggest a novel role for NAP-1 (and perhaps other acidic histone chaperones) in mediating chromatin fluidity by incorporating histone variants and assisting nucleosome sliding. NAP-1 may function either untargeted (if acting alone) or may be targeted to specific regions within the genome through interactions with additional factors.     

Stepwise assembly of chromatin during DNA replication in vitro.

A cell free system that supports replication-dependent chromatin assembly has been used to determine the mechanism of histone deposition during DNA replication. CAF-I, a human cell nuclear factor, promotes chromatin assembly on replicating SV40 DNA in the presence of a crude cytosol replication extract. Biochemical fractionation of the cytosol extract has allowed separation of the chromatin assembly reaction into two steps. During the first step, CAF-I targets the deposition of newly synthesized histones H3 and H4 to the replicating DNA. This reaction is dependent upon and coupled with DNA replication, and utilizes the newly synthesized forms of histones H3 and H4, which unlike bulk histone found in chromatin, do not bind to DNA by themselves. The H3/H4-replicated DNA complex is a stable intermediate which exhibits a micrococcal nuclease resistant structure and can be isolated by sucrose gradient sedimentation. In the second step, this replicated precursor is converted to mature chromatin by the addition of histones H2A and H2B in a reaction that can occur after DNA replication. The requirement for CAF-I in at least the first step of the reaction suggests a level of cellular control for this fundamental process.     

Conserved organization of centromeric chromatin in flies and humans

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of centromere-specific histone H3-like (CENP-A) proteins in centromere function. We show that Drosophila CID and human CENP-A appear at metaphase as a three-dimensional structure that lacks histone H3. However, blocks of CID/CENP-A and H3 nucleosomes are linearly interspersed on extended chromatin fibers, and CID is close to H3 nucleosomes in polynucleosomal preparations. When CID is depleted by RNAi, it is replaced by H3, demonstrating flexibility of centromeric chromatin organization. Finally, contrary to models proposing that H3 and CID/CENP-A nucleosomes are replicated at different times in S phase, we show that interspersed H3 and CID/CENP-A chromatin are replicated concurrently during S phase in humans and flies. We propose that the unique structural arrangement of CID/CENP-A and H3 nucleosomes presents centromeric chromatin to the poleward face of the condensing mitotic chromosome.     

The p55 subunit of Drosophila chromatin assembly factor 1 is homologous to a histone deacetylase-associated protein.

To gain a better understanding of DNA replication-coupled chromatin assembly, we have isolated the cDNA encoding the smallest (apparent molecular mass, 55 kDa; termed p55) subunit of Drosophila melanogaster chromatin assembly factor 1 (dCAF-1), a multisubunit protein that is required for the assembly of nucleosomes onto newly replicated DNA in vitro. The p55 polypeptide comprises seven WD repeat motifs and is homologous to the mammalian RbAp48 protein, which is associated with the HD1 histone deacetylase. dCAF-1 was immunopurified by using affinity-purified antibodies against p55; the resulting dCAF-1 preparation possessed the four putative subunits of dCAF-1 (p180, p105, p75, and p55) and was active for DNA replication-coupled chromatin assembly. Moreover, dCAF-1 activity was specifically depleted with antibodies against p55. Thus, p55 is an integral component of dCAF-1. p55 is localized to the nucleus and is present throughout Drosophila development. Consistent with the homology between p55 and the HD1-associated RbAp48 protein, histone deacetylase activity was observed to coimmunoprecipitate specifically with p55 from a Drosophila nuclear extract. Furthermore, a fraction of the p55 protein becomes associated with the newly assembled chromatin following DNA replication. These findings collectively suggest that p55 may function as a link between DNA replication-coupled chromatin assembly and histone modification.     

Sequential assembly of newly synthesized histone on replicating SV40 DNA

Studies on the assembly of histones with newly replicated SV40 DNA show that the four core histones do not associate simultaneously with the DNA. The arginine rich histones H3 and probably H4 associate first, followed by the association of H2a and H2b. Rapid exchange of histone H1 that occurs between cellular and viral chromatins during the extraction hampers studies on the specific association of H1 with newly replicated viral chromatin.