Histone tails cooperate to control the breathing of genomic nucleosomes.

ABSTRACT: Genomic DNA is packaged in chromatin, a dynamic fiber variable in size and compaction. In chromatin, repeating nucleosome units wrap 145-147 DNA basepairs around histone proteins. Genetic and epigenetic regulation of genes relies on structural transitions in chromatin which are driven by intra- and inter-nucleosome dynamics and modulated by chemical modifications of the unstructured terminal tails of histones. Here we demonstrate how the interplay between histone H3 and H2A tails control ample nucleosome breathing motions. We monitored large openings of two genomic nucleosomes, and only moderate breathing of an engineered nucleosome in atomistic molecular simulations amounting to 24 μs. Transitions between open and closed nucleosome conformations were mediated by the displacement and chang

SUBMITTER: Huertas J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8174689 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature