TY - JOUR
T1 - Transcriptional Activation of a Constitutive Heterochromatic Domain of the Human Genome in Response to Heat Shock
AU - Rizzi, Nicoletta
AU - Denegri, Marco
AU - Chiodi, Ilaria
AU - Corioni, Margherita
AU - Valgardsdottir, Rut
AU - Cobianchi, Fabio
AU - Riva, Silvano
AU - Biamonti, Giuseppe
PY - 2004/2
Y1 - 2004/2
N2 - Heat shock triggers the assembly of nuclear stress bodies that contain heat shock factor 1 and a subset of RNA processing factors. These structures are formed on the pericentromeric heterochromatic regions of specific human chromosomes, among which chromosome 9. In this article we show that these heterochromatic domains are characterized by an epigenetic status typical of euchromatic regions. Similarly to transcriptionally competent portions of the genome, stress bodies are, in fact, enriched in acetylated histone H4. Acetylation peaks at 6 h of recovery from heat shock. Moreover, heterochromatin markers, such as HP1 and histone H3 methylated on lysine 9, are excluded from these nuclear districts. In addition, heat shock triggers the transient accumulation of RNA molecules, heterogeneous in size, containing the subclass of satellite III sequences found in the pericentromeric heterochromatin of chromosome 9. This is the first report of a transcriptional activation of a constitutive heterochromatic portion of the genome in response to stress stimuli.
AB - Heat shock triggers the assembly of nuclear stress bodies that contain heat shock factor 1 and a subset of RNA processing factors. These structures are formed on the pericentromeric heterochromatic regions of specific human chromosomes, among which chromosome 9. In this article we show that these heterochromatic domains are characterized by an epigenetic status typical of euchromatic regions. Similarly to transcriptionally competent portions of the genome, stress bodies are, in fact, enriched in acetylated histone H4. Acetylation peaks at 6 h of recovery from heat shock. Moreover, heterochromatin markers, such as HP1 and histone H3 methylated on lysine 9, are excluded from these nuclear districts. In addition, heat shock triggers the transient accumulation of RNA molecules, heterogeneous in size, containing the subclass of satellite III sequences found in the pericentromeric heterochromatin of chromosome 9. This is the first report of a transcriptional activation of a constitutive heterochromatic portion of the genome in response to stress stimuli.
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U2 - 10.1091/mbc.E03-07-0487
DO - 10.1091/mbc.E03-07-0487
M3 - Article
C2 - 14617804
AN - SCOPUS:0742270643
VL - 15
SP - 543
EP - 551
JO - Molecular Biology of the Cell
JF - Molecular Biology of the Cell
SN - 1059-1524
IS - 2
ER -