| 1. |
- Andersson, Robin, et al.
(författare)
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Nucleosomes are well positioned in exons and carry characteristic histone modifications
- 2009
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 19:10, s. 1732-1741
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The genomes of higher organisms are packaged in nucleosomes with functional histone modifications. Until now, genome-wide nucleosome and histone modification studies have focused on transcription start sites (TSSs) where nucleosomes in RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) occupied genes are well positioned and have histone modifications that are characteristic of expression status. Using public data, we here show that there is a higher nucleosome-positioning signal in internal human exons and that this positioning is independent of expression. We observed a similarly strong nucleosome-positioning signal in internal exons of C. elegans. Among the 38 histone modifications analyzed in man, H3K36me3, H3K79me1, H2BK5me1, H3K27me1, H3K27me2 and H3K27me3 had evidently higher signal in internal exons than in the following introns and were clearly related to exon expression. These observations are suggestive of roles in splicing. Thus, exons are not only characterized by their coding capacity but also by their nucleosome organization, which seems evolutionary conserved since it is present in both primates and nematodes.
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| 2. |
- Rada-Iglesias, Alvaro, et al.
(författare)
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Butyrate mediates decrease of histone acetylation centered on transcription start sites and down-regulation of associated genes
- 2007
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 17:6, s. 708-719
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Butyrate is a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi) with anti-neoplastic properties, which theoretically reactivates epigenetically silenced genes by increasing global histone acetylation. However, recent studies indicate that a similar number or even more genes are down-regulated than up-regulated by this drug. We treated hepatocarcinoma HepG2 cells with butyrate and characterized the levels of acetylation at DNA-bound histones H3 and H4 by ChIP-chip along the ENCODE regions. In contrast to the global increases of histone acetylation, many genomic regions close to transcription start sites were deacetylated after butyrate exposure. In order to validate these findings, we found that both butyrate and trichostatin A treatment resulted in histone deacetylation at selected regions, while nucleosome loss or changes in histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) did not occur in such locations. Furthermore, similar histone deacetylation events were observed when colon adenocarcinoma HT-29 cells were treated with butyrate. In addition, genes with deacetylated promoters were down-regulated by butyrate, and this was mediated at the transcriptional level by affecting RNA polymerase II (POLR2A) initiation/elongation. Finally, the global increase in acetylated histones was preferentially localized to the nuclear periphery, indicating that it might not be associated to euchromatin. Our results are significant for the evaluation of HDACi as anti-tumourogenic drugs, suggesting that previous models of action might need to be revised, and provides an explanation for the frequently observed repression of many genes during HDACi treatment.
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| 3. |
- Rada-Iglesias, Alvaro, et al.
(författare)
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Whole-genome maps of USF1 and USF2 binding and histone H3 acetylation reveal new aspects of promoter structure and candidate genes for common human disorders
- 2008
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Ingår i: Genome Research. - : Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. - 1088-9051 .- 1549-5469. ; 18:3, s. 380-392
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Transcription factors and histone modifications are crucial regulators of gene expression that mutually influence each other. We present the DNA binding profiles of upstream stimulatory factors 1 and 2 (USF1, USF2) and acetylated histone H3 (H3ac) in a liver cell line for the whole human genome using ChIP-chip at a resolution of 35 base pairs. We determined that these three proteins bind mostly in proximity of protein coding genes transcription start sites (TSSs), and their bindings are positively correlated with gene expression levels. Based on the spatial and functional relationship between USFs and H3ac at protein coding gene promoters, we found similar promoter architecture for known genes and the novel and less-characterized transcripts human mRNAs and spliced ESTs. Furthermore, our analysis revealed a previously underestimated abundance of genes in a bidirectional conformation, where USFs are bound in between TSSs. After taking into account this promoter conformation, the results indicate that H3ac is mainly located downstream of TSS, and it is at this genomic location where it positively correlates with gene expression. Finally, USF1, which is associated to familial combined hyperlipidemia, was found to bind and potentially regulate nuclear mitochondrial genes as well as genes for lipid and cholesterol metabolism, frequently in collaboration with GA binding protein transcription factor alpha (GABPA, nuclear respiratory factor 2 [NRF-2]). This expands our understanding about the transcriptional control of metabolic processes and its alteration in metabolic disorders.
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