H. Huang et al., AN HP1-LIKE PROTEIN IS MISSING FROM TRANSCRIPTIONALLY SILENT MICRONUCLEI OF TETRAHYMENA, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 95(23), 1998, pp. 13624-13629
We report the identification and cloning of a 28-kDa polypeptide (p28)
in Tetrahymena macronuclei that shares several features with the well
studied heterochromatin-associated protein HP1 from Drosophila, Notab
ly, like HP1, p28 contains both a chromodomain and a chromoshadow doma
in. p28 also shares features with linker histone H1, and like H1, p28
is multiply phosphorylated, at least in part, by a proline-directed, C
dc2-type kinase. As such, p28 is referred to as Hhp1p (for H1/HP1-like
protein). Hhp1p is missing from transcriptionally silent micronuclei
but is enriched in heterochromatin-like chromatin bodies that presumab
ly comprise repressed chromatin in macronuclei. These findings shed li
ght on the evolutionary conserved nature of heterochromatin in organis
ms ranging from ciliates to humans and provide further evidence that H
P1-like proteins are not exclusively associated with permanently silen
t chromosomal domains. Our data support a view that members of this fa
mily also associate with repressed states of euchromatin.