Török, A;
Schiffer, PH;
Schnitzler, CE;
Ford, K;
Mullikin, JC;
Baxevanis, AD;
Bacic, A;
... Gornik, SG; + view all
(2016)
The cnidarian Hydractinia echinata employs canonical and highly adapted histones to pack its DNA.
Epigenetics & Chromatin
, 9
(1)
, Article 36. 10.1186/s13072-016-0085-1.
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Abstract
Background Cnidarians are a group of early branching animals including corals, jellyfish and hydroids that are renowned for their high regenerative ability, growth plasticity and longevity. Because cnidarian genomes are conventional in terms of protein-coding genes, their remarkable features are likely a consequence of epigenetic regulation. To facilitate epigenetics research in cnidarians, we analysed the histone complement of the cnidarian model organism Hydractinia echinata using phylogenomics, proteomics, transcriptomics and mRNA in situ hybridisations. Results We find that the Hydractinia genome encodes 19 histones and analyse their spatial expression patterns, genomic loci and replication-dependency. Alongside core and other replication-independent histone variants, we find several histone replication-dependent variants, including a rare replication-dependent H3.3, a female germ cell-specific H2A.X and an unusual set of five H2B variants, four of which are male germ cell-specific. We further confirm the absence of protamines in Hydractinia. Conclusions Since no protamines are found in hydroids, we suggest that the novel H2B variants are pivotal for sperm DNA packaging in this class of Cnidaria. This study adds to the limited number of full histone gene complements available in animals and sets a comprehensive framework for future studies on the role of histones and their post-translational modifications in cnidarian epigenetics. Finally, it provides insight into the evolution of spermatogenesis.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The cnidarian Hydractinia echinata employs canonical and highly adapted histones to pack its DNA |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s13072-016-0085-1 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1186/s13072-016-0085-1 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
| Keywords: | Histone, Chromatin, Cnidaria, Histone variants, Sperm-specific histones |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Psychology and Human Development |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1556571 |
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