Acetylation increases access of remodelling complexes to their nucleosome targets to enhance initiation of V(D)J recombination

Targeted chromatin remodelling is essential for many nuclear processes, including the regulation of V(D)J recombination. ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelling complexes are important players in this process whose activity must be tightly regulated. We show here that histone acetylation regulates nucleosome remodelling complex activity to boost RAG cutting during the initiation of V(D)J recombination. RAG cutting requires nucleosome mobilization from recombination signal sequences. Histone acetylation does not stimulate nucleosome mobilization per se by CHRAC, ACF or their catalytic subunit, ISWI. Instead, we find the more open structure of acetylated chromatin regulates the ability of nucleosome remodelling complexes to access their nucleosome templates. We also find that bromodomain/acetylated histone tail interactions can contribute to this targeting at limited concentrations of remodelling complex. We therefore propose that the changes in higher order chromatin structure associated with histone acetylation contribute to the correct targeting of nucleosome remodelling complexes and this is a novel way in which histone acetylation can modulate remodelling complex activity.     

Histone modifications influence the action of Snf2 family remodelling enzymes by different mechanisms

Alteration of chromatin structure by chromatin modifying and remodelling activities is a key stage in the regulation of many nuclear processes. These activities are frequently interlinked, and many chromatin remodelling enzymes contain motifs that recognise modified histones. Here we adopt a peptide ligation strategy to generate specifically modified chromatin templates and used these to study the interaction of the Chd1, Isw2 and RSC remodelling complexes with differentially acetylated nucleosomes. Specific patterns of histone acetylation are found to alter the rate of chromatin remodelling in different ways. For example, histone H3 lysine 14 acetylation acts to increase recruitment of the RSC complex to nucleosomes. However, histone H4 tetra-acetylation alters the spectrum of remodelled products generated by increasing octamer transfer in trans. In contrast, histone H4 tetra-acetylation was also found to reduce the activity of the Chd1 and Isw2 remodelling enzymes by reducing catalytic turnover without affecting recruitment. These observations illustrate a range of different means by which modifications to histones can influence the action of remodelling enzymes.     

Histone acetylation: a switch between repressive and permissive chromatin. Second in review series on chromatin dynamics

The organization of eukaryotic chromatin has a major impact on all nuclear processes involving DNA substrates. Gene expression is affected by the positioning of individual nucleosomes relative to regulatory sequence elements, by the folding of the nucleosomal fiber into higher-order structures and by the compartmentalization of functional domains within the nucleus. Because site-specific acetylation of nucleosomal histones influences all three aspects of chromatin organization, it is central to the switch between permissive and repressive chromatin structure. The targeting of enzymes that modulate the histone acetylation status of chromatin, in synergy with the effects mediated by other chromatin remodeling factors, is central to gene regulation.     

Nucleosome remodeling: one mechanism, many phenomena?

The term 'nucleosome remodeling' subsumes a large number of energy-dependent alterations of canonical nucleosome structure, catalyzed by dedicated ATPases in large multiprotein complexes. The importance of these factors for gene regulation and other processes with chromatin substrate have emerged from genetic studies. Mechanistic analyses of nucleosome remodeling by different enzymes provided a diverse, almost confusing phenomenology of ATP-dependent derangement of nucleosomes in vitro, suggesting that different remodeling machines follow different strategies to disrupt histone-DNA interactions. This review explores the alternative possibility that the rich phenomenology of nucleosome remodeling may be brought about by variations of one basic remodeling reaction.     

Histone post-translational modifications and the response to DNA double-strand breaks

The packaging of DNA into chromatin creates a number of significant barriers to the detection of DNA lesions and their timely and accurate repair. Eukaryotic cells have evolved a number of enzymes that modulate chromatin structure and facilitate DNA repair. Recent research illustrates how nucleosome remodelling enzymes cooperate with both DNA-damage-inducible and constitutive histone modifications to promote many facets of the cellular response to DNA damage.     

Snf2 family ATPases and DExx box helicases: differences and unifying concepts from high-resolution crystal structures

Proteins with sequence similarity to the yeast Snf2 protein form a large family of ATPases that act to alter the structure of a diverse range of DNA–protein structures including chromatin. Snf2 family enzymes are related in sequence to DExx box helicases, yet they do not possess helicase activity. Recent biochemical and structural studies suggest that the mechanism by which these enzymes act involves ATP-dependent translocation on DNA. Crystal structures suggest that these enzymes travel along the minor groove, a process that can generate the torque or energy in remodelling processes. We review the recent structural and biochemical findings which suggest a common mechanistic basis underlies the action of many of both Snf2 family and DExx box helicases.     

代谢酶乙酰化修饰对新陈代谢的调控

蛋白质的赖氨酸乙酰化修饰可以定义为在蛋白质的赖氨酸残基上添加或移除一个乙酰基团,这个过程是由乙酰化酶和脱乙酰酶调控的.真核生物细胞核内组蛋白和转录因子的可逆乙酰化修饰对基因表达调控的机制早已研究得比较清楚.1996年以来,一些独立的研究也陆续发现,参与到其他生命活动中的蛋白质存在着乙酰化修饰情况,表明乙酰化可能在生命活动中发挥着广泛的调节作用.然而直到2009年,高通量的蛋白质质谱分析技术才使得在蛋白质组水平上研究乙酰化修饰成为可能,并发现蛋白质乙酰化普遍存在.学者们发现,乙酰化修饰是一个在细胞核或细胞质的亚细胞器内广泛存在的翻译后修饰调控机制,可能参与了染色体重塑、细胞周期调控、细胞骨架的大分子运输、新陈代谢等多种生命活动.本文详细总结代谢酶的乙酰化修饰对新陈代谢调控的关键作用,并说明代谢酶的乙酰化修饰是一个从原核生物到真核生物进化上高度保守的调控机制.     

Poly-ADP-Ribose (PAR) as an epigenetic flag

Epigenetics is the study of hereditable chromatin modifications, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and nucleosome-remodelling, which occur without alterations to the DNA sequence. The establishment of different epigenetic states in eukaryotes depends on regulatory mechanisms that induce structural changes in chromatin in response to environmental and cellular cues. Two classes of enzymes modulate chromatin accessibility: chromatin-covalent modifiers and ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling complexes. The first class of enzymes catalyzes covalent modifications of DNA as well as the amino- and carboxy-terminal tails of histones, while the second uses the energy of ATP hydrolysis to reposition nucleosomes along the chromatin fibers or to incorporate histone variants. Thus, epigenetic modifications are reversible nuclear reactions. In the last decade, many studies have strongly indicated that alterations in epigenetic modifications may contribute to the onset and progression of a variety of human diseases such as cancer. Therefore, the enzymes responsible for these chromatin changes are becoming attractive therapeutic targets.     

Core histone acetylation is regulated by linker histone stoichiometry in vivo

We investigated the relationship between linker histone stoichiometry and the acetylation of core histones in vivo. Exponentially growing cell lines induced to overproduce either of two H1 variants, H1(0) or H1c, displayed significantly reduced rates of incorporation of [(3)H]acetate into all four core histones. Pulse-chase experiments indicated that the rates of histone deacetylation were similar in all cell lines. These effects were also observed in nuclei isolated from these cells upon labeling with [(3)H]acetyl-CoA. Nuclear extracts prepared from control and H1-overexpressing cell lines displayed similar levels of histone acetylation activity on chromatin templates prepared from control cells. In contrast, extracts prepared from control cells were significantly less active on chromatin templates prepared from H1-overexpressing cells than on templates prepared from control cells. Reduced levels of acetylation in H1-overproducing cell lines do not appear to depend on higher order chromatin structure, because it persists even after digestion of the chromatin with micrococcal nuclease. The results suggest that alterations in chromatin structure, resulting from changes in linker histone stoichiometry may modulate the levels or rates of core histone acetylation in vivo.     

Facteurs impliqués dans le remodelage de la chromatine au cours de la spermiogenèse

Round spermatids are post-meiotic cells with a haploid genome contained in a nucleus, with a structure initially similar to that of the somatic cell nucleus. During spermatogenesis, the spermatid nucleus undergoes drastic remodelling during which it first elongates and then condenses into the very specific and tightly packaged structure of the sperm nucleus. During this remodelling dthe histones are replaced by transition proteins, which, in turn, are replaced by protamines, the specific nuclear proteins of the spermatozoa. Immediately prior to their replacement, the histones are hyperacetylated. The first part of our work was to precisely characterise the changes in histone acetylation during murine spermatogenesis. We have shown that the core histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 are hyperacetylated in the elongating spermatids. We have also shown that these changes in acetylation are associated with degradation of the enzymes responsible for histone deacetylation, histone deacetylases or HDACs, while histone acetyl transferases are still present in these cells. The histone acetylation pattern was also investigated during human spermatogenesis, revealing that histone hyperacetylation in the nucleus of elongating spermatids, which appears to be conserved during the course of evolution, also occurs during human spermatogenesis. Moreover, our data obtained from the testes of men with severely altered spermatogenesis, including SCO syndromes (Sertoli Cells Only Syndromes), show that a global hyperacetylation of the Sertoli cell nuclei is associated with an absence of meiotic and post-meiotic cells. This suggests that the global histone acetylation variations observed during spermatogenesis are part of a signalling pathway involving germ cell — Sertoli cell communication. Altogether, these data provide a basis for a better understanding of the mechanisms and identification of the factors involved in post-meiotic remodelling of chromatin.     

Chemical probes for histone-modifying enzymes

The histone-modifying enzymes that catalyze reversible lysine acetylation and methylation are central to the epigenetic regulation of chromatin remodeling. From the early discovery of histone deacetylase inhibitors to the more recent identification of histone demethylase blockers, chemical approaches offer increasingly sophisticated tools for the investigation of the structure and function of these lysine-modifying enzymes. This review summarizes progress to date on compounds identified from screens or by design that can modulate the activity of classical histone deacetylases, sirtuins, histone acetyltransferases, histone methyltransferases and histone demethylases. We highlight applications of compounds to mechanistic and functional studies involving these enzymes and discuss future challenges regarding target specificity and general utility.