Differential Expression of Histone H3.3 Genes and Their Role in Modulating Temperature Stress Response in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Replication-independent variant histones replace canonical histones in nucleosomes and act as important regulators of chromatin function. H3.3 is a major variant of histone H3 that is remarkably conserved across taxa and is distinguished from canonical H3 by just four key amino acids. Most genomes contain two or more genes expressing H3.3, and complete loss of the protein usually causes sterility or embryonic lethality. Here, we investigate the developmental expression patterns of the five Caenorhabditis elegans H3.3 homologs and identify two previously uncharacterized homologs to be restricted to the germ line. Despite these specific expression patterns, we find that neither loss of individual H3.3 homologs nor the knockout of all five H3.3-coding genes causes sterility or lethalit

SUBMITTER: Delaney K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5972426 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature