Structural and functional analyses of chromatin assembly factors

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Structural basis of cell-signalling complexes mediating signal perception, transduction and responses
• Project/Area Number: 22121005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Biological Sciences
• Research Institution: High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (2012-2014); National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (2010-2011)
• Principal Investigator: SENDA Toshiya 大学共同利用機関法人高エネルギー加速器研究機構, 物質構造科学研究所, 教授 (30272868)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HORIKOSHI Masami 東京大学, 分子細胞生物学研究所, 准教授 (70242089) ; SEKI Masayuki 東北薬科大学, 薬学部, 教授 (70202140)
• Project Period (FY): 2010-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: X線結晶構造解析 / クロマチン / ヌクレオソーム / 転写 / 複製 / CAF-I / HIRA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Nucleosomes are the fundamental repeating units of chromatin. Nucleosomes must be disassembled and reassembled during nuclear reactions, such as replication, transcription, repair, and recombination. During the reassembly of nucleosomes, histones need to be deposited on genomic DNA in the correct procedure. If not, epigenetic information, which is encoded on the N-tail of histones, is eliminated in the course of nuclear reaction coupled nucleosome reassembly. Here, we focused on the histone deposition factors, CAF-I and HIRA. We established a protocol for the large-scale purification of CAF-1 (a replication-dependent histone deposition factor), which enabled us to obtain images from EM analyses. Regarding HIRA, which is a replication-independent histone deposition factor, we have obtained crystals of the HIRA-C domain. We will now try crystal optimization. In addition, we have determined the crystal structure of CagA, which has been implicated in Helicobacter pylori pathogenicity.

Free Research Field

結晶学・構造生物学