Project description:Histone chaperones and chromatin remodelers control nucleosome dynamics, essential for transcription, replication, and DNA repair. The histone chaperone Anti-Silencing Factor 1 (ASF1) plays a central role in facilitating CAF-1-mediated replication-dependent H3.1 deposition and HIRA-mediated replication-independent H3.3 deposition in yeast and metazoans. Whether ASF1 function is evolutionarily conserved in plants is unknown. Here, we show that Arabidopsis ASF1 proteins display an exclusive preference for the H3.3-depositing HIRA complex. Simultaneous mutation of both Arabidopsis ASF1 genes caused a decrease in chromatin density and ectopic H3.1 occupancy at loci typically enriched with H3.3. Genetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data indicate that ASF1 proteins strongly prefer the HIRA complex over CAF-1. asf1 mutants also displayed an increase in spurious Pol II transcriptional initiation, and showed defects in the maintenance of gene body CG DNA methylation and in the distribution of histone modifications. Furthermore, ectopic targeting of ASF1 caused excessive histone deposition, less accessible chromatin, and gene silencing. These findings reveal the importance of ASF1-mediated H3.3-H4 deposition via the HIRA pathway for proper epigenetic regulation of the genome.
Project description:Histone chaperones and chromatin remodelers control nucleosome dynamics, which are essential for transcription, replication, and DNA repair. The histone chaperone Anti-Silencing Factor 1 (ASF1) plays a central role in facilitating CAF-1-mediated replication-dependent H3.1 deposition and HIRA-mediated replication-independent H3.3 deposition in yeast and metazoans. Whether ASF1 function is evolutionarily conserved in plants is unknown. Here, we show that Arabidopsis ASF1 proteins display a preference for the HIRA complex. Simultaneous mutation of both Arabidopsis ASF1 genes caused a decrease in chromatin density and ectopic H3.1 occupancy at loci typically enriched with H3.3. Genetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data indicate that ASF1 proteins strongly prefers the HIRA complex over CAF-1. asf1 mutants also displayed an increase in spurious Pol II transcriptional initiation and showed defects in the maintenance of gene body CG DNA methylation and in the distribution of histone modifications. Furthermore, ectopic targeting of ASF1 caused excessive histone deposition, less accessible chromatin, and gene silencing. These findings reveal the importance of ASF1-mediated histone deposition for proper epigenetic regulation of the genome.
Project description:Characterization of Epigenetic Regulation in an Extraterrestrial Environment: The Arabidopsis Spaceflight Methylome [Bisulfite-seq]
Project description:Genomic integrity requires faithful chromosome duplication. Origins of replication are the genomic sites where DNA replication initiates in every cell cycle. There are multiple origins scattered throughout the eukaryotic genome whose genome-wide identification has been a hard challenge, especially in multicellular organisms. Thus, very little is known on the distinctive features of origins in terms of DNA sequence and chromatin context at a genomic scale. Here we have profiled origins in Arabidopsis thaliana by high-throughput sequencing of purified nascent DNA strands. We have identified 1543 replication origins, which were uniformly distributed across the Arabidopsis genome and enriched in binding signals of two replication initiation proteins, CDC6 and ORC1. We have also analyzed novel epigenome maps of various histone modifications and found links between origins and epigenetic signatures, which differ from or have not been reported for other eukaryotic systems. Arabidopsis origins tend to be embedded in G+C-rich regions within the 5’ half of genes, enriched in histone H2A.Z, H3K4me2/3 and acetylated H4, and depleted of H3K4me1 and H3K9me2. Our data establish the basis for the understanding of the epigenetic specification of origins of replication in Arabidopsis and have implications for the mechanisms of origin specification in other eukaryotes. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.