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The formation and sequestration of heterochromatin during development
Author(s) -
GonzalezSandoval Adriana,
Towbin Benjamin D.,
Gasser Susan M.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the febs journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.981
H-Index - 204
eISSN - 1742-4658
pISSN - 1742-464X
DOI - 10.1111/febs.12319
Subject(s) - heterochromatin , chromatin , microbiology and biotechnology , lamin , biology , histone , heterochromatin protein 1 , nuclear lamina , genetics , nuclear protein , nucleus , dna , gene , transcription factor
Chromatin is not randomly positioned in the nucleus, but is distributed in subdomains based on its degree of compaction and transcriptional status. Recent studies have shed light on the logic of chromatin distribution, showing that tissue‐specific promoters drive distinct patterns of gene positioning during cell‐type differentiation. In addition, the sequestration of heterochromatin at the nuclear envelope has been found to depend on lamin and lamin‐associated proteins. On the chromatin side, H3K9 monomethylation, dimethylation and trimethylation were shown to be the critical signals for perinuclear anchoring in worm embryonic nuclei. Downregulation of an equivalent histone methyltransferase, G9a, in human cells has a similar effect. In worms, the sequestration of the terminal methyltransferase by repressed chromatin may facilitate the propagation of a heterochromatin compartment, much as the sequestration of the silent information regulatory complex does at telomeric foci in budding yeast. These results argue for conserved logic in eukaryotic nuclear organization.