This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) An author's correction has been published Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tamada, H. Articles by Kikyo, N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Tamada, H. Articles by Kikyo, N.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, February 2006, p. 1259-1271, Vol. 26, No. 4
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.26.4.1259-1271.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Chromatin Decondensation and Nuclear Reprogramming by Nucleoplasmin

Stem Cell Institute, Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, MMC 716, 420 Delaware St. SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455,¹ Laboratory for Genomic Reprogramming, Center for Developmental Biology, RIKEN Kobe, 2-2-3 Minatojima-minamimachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0047, Japan²

Received 22 September 2005/ Returned for modification 2 November 2005/ Accepted 23 November 2005

Somatic cell nuclear cloning has repeatedly demonstrated striking reversibility of epigenetic regulation of cell differentiation. Upon injection into eggs, the donor nuclei exhibit global chromatin decondensation, which might contribute to reprogramming the nuclei by derepressing dormant genes. Decondensation of sperm chromatin in eggs is explained by the replacement of sperm-specific histone variants with egg-type histones by the egg protein nucleoplasmin (Npm). However, little is known about the mechanisms of chromatin decondensation in somatic nuclei that do not contain condensation-specific histone variants. Here we found that Npm could widely decondense chromatin in undifferentiated mouse cells without overt histone exchanges but with specific epigenetic modifications that are relevant to open chromatin structure. These modifications included nucleus-wide multiple histone H3 phosphorylation, acetylation of Lys 14 in histone H3, and release of heterochromatin proteins HP1ß and TIF1ß from the nuclei. The protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine inhibited chromatin decondensation and these epigenetic modifications with the exception of H3 acetylation, potentially linking these chromatin events. At the functional level, Npm pretreatment of mouse nuclei facilitated activation of four oocyte-specific genes from the nuclei injected into Xenopus laevis oocytes. Future molecular elucidation of chromatin decondensation by Npm will significantly contribute to our understanding of the plasticity of cell differentiation.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Pajerowski, J. D., Dahl, K. N., Zhong, F. L., Sammak, P. J., Discher, D. E. (2007). From the Cover: Physical plasticity of the nucleus in stem cell differentiation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 15619-15624 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Salati, S., Bianchi, E., Zini, R., Tenedini, E., Quaglino, D., Manfredini, R., Ferrari, S. (2007). Eosinophils, but not neutrophils, exhibit an efficient DNA repair machinery and high nucleolar activity. haematol 92: 1311-1318 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Xu, Y., Fang, F., Dhar, S. K., St. Clair, W. H., Kasarskis, E. J., St. Clair, D. K. (2007). The Role of a Single-stranded Nucleotide Loop in Transcriptional Regulation of the Human sod2 Gene. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 15981-15994 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tessadori, F., Chupeau, M.-C., Chupeau, Y., Knip, M., Germann, S., van Driel, R., Fransz, P., Gaudin, V. (2007). Large-scale dissociation and sequential reassembly of pericentric heterochromatin in dedifferentiated Arabidopsis cells. J. Cell Sci. 120: 1200-1208 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Sung, L.-Y., Shen, P.-C., Jeong, B.-S., Xu, J., Chang, C.-C., Cheng, W. T.K., Wu, J.-S., Lee, S.-N., Broek, D., Faber, D., Tian, X. C., Yang, X., Du, F. (2007). Premature Chromosome Condensation Is Not Essential for Nuclear Reprogramming in Bovine Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. Biol. Reprod. 76: 232-240 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Alberio, R., Campbell, K. H, Johnson, A. D (2006). Reprogramming somatic cells into stem cells.. Reproduction 132: 709-720 [Abstract] [Full Text]