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Functional Analysis of the MacroH2A Histone Variant During Zebrafish (Danio rerio) Development
Author(s) -
Guajardo Laura ines,
Muñoz Valentina,
Bouvet Philippe,
Molina Alfredo,
Alvarez Marco
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.490.2
Subject(s) - biology , zebrafish , histone , danio , chromatin , epigenetics , chromatin remodeling , nucleosome , microbiology and biotechnology , histone methylation , histone code , genetics , dna methylation , gene , gene expression
In the nucleus, DNA is associated to different proteins, forming a highly dynamic nucleoprotein complex termed chromatin. Assembly of DNA into nucleosomes causes a massive repression of transcription, which can be reversed by different epigenetic mechanisms, such as post‐translational modification of histones and incorporation of histone variants. The variant of the canonical histone H2A, macroH2A (mH2A), possesses a large non‐DNA binding C‐terminal domain termed "non‐histone region" (NHR), which is thought to inhibit two processes that are essential for chromatin activation, histone acetylation and nucleosome remodeling. In order to study the role of mH2A in epigenetic control of cell differentiation during zebrafish development, we analyzed the expression pattern of the mH2A2 isoform during early embryogenesis and larval stages, at 0, 6, 12, 16, 24, 48 and 72 hours post‐fertilization (hpf). Our results revealed that mH2A2 displays maternal inheritance (0 hpf) and its transcript is expressed in all stages analyzed. Additionally, knock‐down experiments were carried out using morpholino oligonucleotides designed to block translation initiation (mH2A2 MO ATG ) or splicing of the primary transcript (mH2A2 MO SS ). Both oligonucleotides generated a phenotype characterized by diminished development of anterior structures (head, eyes), somite malformation and lethality beyond 30hpf. Our results suggest that this histone variant could play a fundamental role in zebrafish development. MIFAB P04‐071‐F, Fondecyt 1070358, ECOS‐CONICYT C06B03.