Histone variants in archaea - an undiscovered country.
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Author(s)
Stevens, KM
Warnecke, T
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Exchanging core histones in the nucleosome for paralogous variants can have important functional ramifications. Many of these variants, and their physiological roles, have been characterized in exquisite detail in model eukaryotes, including humans. In comparison, our knowledge of histone biology in archaea remains rudimentary. This is true in particular for our knowledge of histone variants. Many archaea encode several histone genes that differ in sequence, but do these paralogs make distinct, adaptive contributions to genome organization and regulation in a manner comparable to eukaryotes? Below, we review what we know about histone variants in archaea at the level of structure, regulation, and evolution. In all areas, our knowledge pales when compared to the wealth of insight that has been gathered for eukaryotes. Recent findings, however, provide tantalizing glimpses into a rich and largely undiscovered country that is at times familiar and eukaryote-like and at times strange and uniquely archaeal. We sketch a preliminary roadmap for further exploration of this country; an undertaking that may ultimately shed light not only on chromatin biology in archaea but also on the origin of histone-based chromatin in eukaryotes.
Date Issued
2023-02-15
Online Publication Date
2022-03-21T13:47:13Z
Date Acceptance
2022-02-20
ISSN
1084-9521
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
50
End Page
58
Journal / Book Title
Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology
Volume
135
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URI
Sponsor
Medical Research Council
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35221208
S1084-9521(22)00055-6
Grant Number
MC_A658_5TY40
Subjects
Archaea
Chromatin
Histone variants
Humans
Histones
Archaea
Nucleosomes
Chromatin
Eukaryotic Cells
Chromatin
Nucleosomes
Eukaryotic Cells
Humans
Archaea
Histones
Archaea
Chromatin
Histone variants
Developmental Biology
0601 Biochemistry and Cell Biology
1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine
Publication Status
Published
Country
England
Date Publish Online
2022-02-25