Chromatin is an ancient innovation conserved between Archaea and Eukarya

The eukaryotic nucleosome is the fundamental unit of chromatin, comprising a protein octamer that wraps ∼147 bp of DNA and has essential roles in DNA compaction, replication and gene expression. Nucleosomes and chromatin have historically been considered to be unique to eukaryotes, yet studies of se...

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Published in:eLife 2012-12, Vol.1, p.e00078-e00078
Main Authors: Ammar, Ron, Torti, Dax, Tsui, Kyle, Gebbia, Marinella, Durbic, Tanja, Bader, Gary D, Giaever, Guri, Nislow, Corey
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Archaea
Biological Evolution
Cell Biology
Chromatin
Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly
Chromosomes
Compaction
Deoxyribonucleic acid
DNA
DNA biosynthesis
DNA Replication
Eukaryotic Cells - cytology
Eukaryotic Cells - metabolism
Gene expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation, Archaeal
Genome, Archaeal
Genomes
Genomics and Evolutionary Biology
Haloferax volcanii
Haloferax volcanii - chemistry
Haloferax volcanii - genetics
Haloferax volcanii - metabolism
Histones
Histones - genetics
Histones - metabolism
Molecular Sequence Annotation
Nucleosome
Nucleosomes
Nucleosomes - chemistry
Nucleosomes - metabolism
Promoter Regions, Genetic
RNA-seq
Transcription
Transcription Factors - genetics
Transcription Factors - metabolism
Transcription Initiation Site
Transcription, Genetic
Transcriptome
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Summary:The eukaryotic nucleosome is the fundamental unit of chromatin, comprising a protein octamer that wraps ∼147 bp of DNA and has essential roles in DNA compaction, replication and gene expression. Nucleosomes and chromatin have historically been considered to be unique to eukaryotes, yet studies of select archaea have identified homologs of histone proteins that assemble into tetrameric nucleosomes. Here we report the first archaeal genome-wide nucleosome occupancy map, as observed in the halophile Haloferax volcanii. Nucleosome occupancy was compared with gene expression by compiling a comprehensive transcriptome of Hfx. volcanii. We found that archaeal transcripts possess hallmarks of eukaryotic chromatin structure: nucleosome-depleted regions at transcriptional start sites and conserved -1 and +1 promoter nucleosomes. Our observations demonstrate that histones and chromatin architecture evolved before the divergence of Archaea and Eukarya, suggesting that the fundamental role of chromatin in the regulation of gene expression is ancient.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00078.001.
ISSN:2050-084X
2050-084X
DOI:10.7554/elife.00078