The structure of a virus-encoded nucleosome.

ABSTRACT: Certain large DNA viruses, including those in the Marseilleviridae family, encode histones. Here we show that fused histone pairs Hβ-Hα and Hδ-Hγ from Marseillevirus are structurally analogous to the eukaryotic histone pairs H2B-H2A and H4-H3. These viral histones form 'forced' heterodimers, and a heterotetramer of four such heterodimers assembles DNA to form structures virtually identical to canonical eukaryotic nucleosomes.

SUBMITTER: Valencia-Sanchez MI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8370576 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature