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Chromatin

A variant function for H2AZ

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 10, pages 656–657 (2009)Cite this article

Using chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to DNA microarray analysis (ChIP–chip) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Zofall et al. found that Pht1 (the S. pombe H2AZ homologue) is relatively depleted in heterochromatic regions and that it predominantly localizes to the 5′ regions of repressed or weakly expressed genes. Cells lacking Pht1 (Δpht1 cells) show increased levels of antisense transcripts, most of which map to convergent genes that are transcribed from opposite DNA strands (read-through antisense transcripts).

Given that heterochromatic factors, such as the H3 Lys9 methyltransferase Clr4 (known as SUV39H in mammals), and RNAi components, such as Argonaute 1 (Ago1), have previously been implicated in the suppression of non-coding RNAs at heterochromatin repeats, and that components of the Clr4 complex localize to convergent genes, the authors tested whether Clr4 and Ago1 might also cooperate with Pht1 in silencing antisense transcripts. Indeed, Δpht1Δclr4 or Δpht1Δago1 double mutants accumulate read-through antisense transcripts at higher levels than Δpht1 cells. These data suggest a cooperative role of Pht1, Clr4 and Ago1 in silencing antisense transcripts.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Zofall, M. et al. Histone H2A.Z cooperates with RNAi and heterochromatin factors to suppress antisense RNAs. Nature 19 Aug 2009 (doi:10.1038/nature08321)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Faghihi, M. A. & Wahlestedt, C. Regulatory roles of natural antisense transcripts. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 10, 637–643 (2009)

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  2. Garneau, N. L., Wilusz, J. & Wilusz, C. J. The highways and byways of mRNA decay. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 8, 113–126 (2007)

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Authors
  1. Francesca Cesari
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Cesari, F. A variant function for H2AZ. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 10, 656–657 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm2770

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