Topic
Heterochromatin
About: Heterochromatin is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6782 publications have been published within this topic receiving 340476 citations. The topic is also known as: GO:0000792.
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TL;DR: A conserved role for reprogramming in germline companion cells, such as nurse cells in insects and vegetative nuclei in plants, is proposed to reveal intact TEs in the genome and regulate their activity in gametes.
951 citations
TL;DR: Heterochromatic regions in chromosomes of man, mainly at the centromeric areas, can be demonstrated with consistency using a special staining procedure.
Abstract: Heterochromatic regions in chromosomes of man, mainly at the centromeric areas, can be demonstrated with consistency using a special staining procedure. This procedure includes treatments of cytologic
933 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that a centromere-homologous repeat present at the silent mating-type region is sufficient for heterochromatin formation at an ectopic site, and that its repressive capacity is mediated by components of the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery.
Abstract: The higher-order assembly of chromatin imposes structural organization on the genetic information of eukaryotes and is thought to be largely determined by posttranslational modification of histone tails. Here, we study a 20-kilobase silent domain at the mating-type region of fission yeast as a model for heterochromatin formation. We find that, although histone H3 methylated at lysine 9 (H3 Lys9) directly recruits heterochromatin protein Swi6/HP1, the critical determinant for H3 Lys9 methylation to spread in cis and to be inherited through mitosis and meiosis is Swi6 itself. We demonstrate that a centromere-homologous repeat (cenH) present at the silent mating-type region is sufficient for heterochromatin formation at an ectopic site, and that its repressive capacity is mediated by components of the RNA interference (RNAi) machinery. Moreover, cenH and the RNAi machinery cooperate to nucleate heterochromatin assembly at the endogenous mat locus but are dispensable for its subsequent inheritance. This work defines sequential requirements for the initiation and propagation of regional heterochromatic domains.
918 citations
TL;DR: It is shown that most asymmetric methylation is facilitated byDDM1 and mediated by the methyltransferase CMT2 separately from RdDM, and that heterochromatic sequences preferentially require DDM1 for DNA methylation and that this preference depends on linker histone H1.
880 citations
TL;DR: A self-reinforcing network of interactions among the three best-characterized covalent modifications that mark heterochromatin suggest a mechanistic basis for spreading of heterochromaatin over large domains and for stable epigenetic inheritance of the silent state.
879 citations