Mechanism of histone modification, which is essential for the centromere formation and contributes to maintenance of chromosome stability

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26440190
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Genetics/Chromosome dynamics
• Research Institution: Osaka University (2015-2016); National Institute of Genetics (2014)
• Principal Investigator: HORI Tetsuya 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 准教授 (70550078)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: セントロメア / ヒストン修飾 / エピジェネティックス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To understand the molecular mechanism of kinetochore assembly, we tried to identify centromere-specific histone modifications and examined their significance on the centromere function. We used ChIP-seq analysis to examine centromere-specific histone modifications at chicken centromeres, which lack highly repetitive sequences. We found that H4K20 monomethylation (H4K20me1) is enriched at centromeres. We conclude that H4K20me1 modification of CENP-A nucleosomes contributes to functional kinetochore assembly. We also found that H4K5 and H4K12 acetylation (H4K5ac, H4K12ac) primarily occur within the pre-nucleosomal CENP-A-H4 complex, before centromere deposition. Based on the genetic and biochemical analyses, we conclude that H4K5ac and H4K12ac facilitate efficient CENP-A deposition into centromeres.

Free Research Field

分子細胞生物学