Ec. Forsberg et al., Developmentally dynamic histone acetylation pattern of a tissue-specific chromatin domain, P NAS US, 97(26), 2000, pp. 14494-14499
Citations number
40
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
We have defined the histone acetylation pattern of the endogenous murine be
ta -globin domain, which contains the erythroid-specific beta -globin genes
. The beta -globin locus control region (LCR) and transcriptionally active
promoters were enriched in acetylated histones in fetal liver relative to f
etal brain, whereas the inactive promoters were hypoacetylated. In contrast
, the LCR and both active and inactive promoters were hyperacetylated in yo
lk sac. Hypersensitive site two of the LCR was also hyperacetytated in muri
ne embryonic: stem cells, whereas beta -globin promoters were hypoacetylate
d. Thus, the acetylation pattern varied at different developmental stages.
Histone deacetylase inhibition selectively increased acetylation at a hypoa
cetylated promoter in fetal liver, suggesting that active deacetylation con
tributes to silencing of promoters. We propose that dynamic histone acetyla
tion and deacetylation play an important role in the developmental control
of beta -globin gene expression.