Influence of post-translational modifications on the biology of linker histone HIS-24 in Caenorhabditis elegans
Final Report Abstract
The structural and functional roles of the linker histone H1 remain enigmatic. The earlier concepts of H1 as a general repressor have to be re-evaluated in the light of our and others experiments demonstrating a minor effect of H1 deletion in unicellular organisms. Within our study on linker histone proteins in C. elegans we provide new insights into the biology of H1 and its post-translational modifications. We show that the function of linker histone may be evolutionarily conserved and H1 and heterochromatin protein HP1 do not have a general function such as participation in the basic structural unit of the chromatin, but instead can contribute to specific programs of innate immune response or Hox gene regulation. Our data suggest a common and dual role for C. elegans H1 and HP1, functioning both as chromatin architectural proteins and at the same time as modifiers of a small subset of genes. Furthermore, we provide the first direct evidence for redundant functions of H1 and HP1 in metazoan development.
Publications
- 2007. Linker histone HIS-24 (H1.1) cytoplasmic retention promotes germline development and influences histone H3 methylation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Mol Cell Biol. 27: 2229-39
Jedrusik MA, Schulze E
- 2009. C. elegans has a phosphoproteome atypical for metazoans that is enriched in development and sex determination proteins. J Proteome Res. 8: 4039-49
Zielinska D, Gnad F, Gunawardena J, Jedrusik-Bode MA, Wiśniewski JR and Mann M
- 2009. Interplay between histone deacetylase SIR-2, linker histone H1 and histone methyltransferases in heterochromatin formation. Epigenetics. 4:353-6
Wirth M, Jedrusik-Bode MA
- 2009. Linker histone HIS-24 and SIR-2.1 deacetylase induce H3K27me3 in C. elegans germline. Mol Cell Biol. 29:3700-9
Wirth M, Paap F, Fischle W, Wenzel D, Agafonov DE, Samatov TR, Wisniewski JR, Jedrusik-Bode MA
- 2011. Epigenetics in C. elegans: Facts and Challenges. Genesis
Wenzel D, Palladino F, Jedrusik-Bode MA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/dvg.20762) - 2012. Novel roles of C. elegans heterochromatin protein HP1 and linker histone in the regulation of innate immune gene expression. Mol Cell Biol. 32:251-65
Studencka M, Konzer A, Moneron G, Wenzel D, Opitz L, Salinas-Riester G, Bedet C, Krüger M, Hell WS, Wisniewski JR, Schmidt H, Palladino F, Schulze E and Jedrusik-Bode MA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1128/MCB.05229-11) - 2012. Transcriptional repression of Hox genes by C. elegans HP1/HPL and H1/HIS-24. PLoS Genetics 8(9): e1002940
Studencka M, Wesolowski R, Salinas-Riester G, Opitz L, Wisniewski JR and Jedrusik-Bode MA
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1002940)
