Santoro Stephen W, Dulac Catherine
Neuroscience Program, Department of Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Trends Genet. 2015 Sep;31(9):516-27. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2015.07.005. Epub 2015 Aug 20.
The broad diversity of cell types within vertebrates arises from a unique genetic blueprint by combining intrinsic cellular information with developmental and other extrinsic signals. Lying at the interface between cellular signals and the DNA is the chromatin, a dynamic nucleoprotein complex that helps to mediate gene regulation. The most basic subunit of chromatin, the nucleosome, consists of DNA wrapped around histones, a set of proteins that play crucial roles as scaffolding molecules and regulators of gene expression. Growing evidence indicates that canonical histones are commonly replaced by protein variants before and during cellular transitions. We highlight exciting new results suggesting that histone variants are essential players in the control of cellular plasticity during development and in the adult nervous system.
脊椎动物体内细胞类型的广泛多样性源于独特的遗传蓝图,它通过将内在细胞信息与发育及其他外在信号相结合而产生。染色质位于细胞信号与DNA的界面处,是一种动态核蛋白复合体,有助于介导基因调控。染色质最基本的亚基核小体由缠绕在组蛋白周围的DNA组成,组蛋白是一组作为支架分子和基因表达调节因子发挥关键作用的蛋白质。越来越多的证据表明,在细胞转变之前和期间,典型组蛋白通常会被蛋白质变体所取代。我们重点介绍了令人兴奋的新结果,这些结果表明组蛋白变体是发育过程中和成体神经系统中细胞可塑性控制的重要参与者。