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Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2007, p. 4037-4048, Vol. 27, No. 11
0270-7306/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.02229-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Histone Tails and the H3 {alpha}N Helix Regulate Nucleosome Mobility and Stability{triangledown}

Helder Ferreira,{dagger} Joanna Somers,{dagger} Ryan Webster, Andrew Flaus,{ddagger} and Tom Owen-Hughes*

Division of Gene Regulation and Expression, The Wellcome Trust Biocentre, Department of Biochemistry, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, United Kingdom

Received 28 November 2006/ Returned for modification 2 January 2007/ Accepted 17 March 2007

Nucleosomes fulfill the apparently conflicting roles of compacting DNA within eukaryotic genomes while permitting access to regulatory factors. Central to this is their ability to stably associate with DNA while retaining the ability to undergo rearrangements that increase access to the underlying DNA. Here, we have studied different aspects of nucleosome dynamics including nucleosome sliding, histone dimer exchange, and DNA wrapping within nucleosomes. We find that alterations to histone proteins, especially the histone tails and vicinity of the histone H3 {alpha}N helix, can affect these processes differently, suggesting that they are mechanistically distinct. This raises the possibility that modifications to histone proteins may provide a means of fine-tuning specific aspects of the dynamic properties of nucleosomes to the context in which they are located.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Gene Regulation and Expression, The Wellcome Trust Biocentre, Department of Biochemistry, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 5EH, United Kingdom. Phone: 44 1382 345796. Fax: 44 1382 348072. E-mail: t.a.owenhughes{at}dundee.ac.uk

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 26 March 2007.

{dagger} H.F. and J.S. contributed equally to this work.

{ddagger} Present address: Department of Biochemistry, National University of Ireland Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, June 2007, p. 4037-4048, Vol. 27, No. 11
0270-7306/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.02229-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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