The essential function of HP1β: a case of the tail wagging the dog?

A large body of work in various organisms has shown that the presence of HP1 structural proteins and methylated lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me) represent the characteristic hallmarks of heterochromatin. We propose that a more critical assessment of the physiological importance of the H3K9me–HP1 inte...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTrends in biochemical sciences (Amsterdam. Regular ed.) Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 115 - 123
Main Authors Billur, Mustafa, Bartunik, Hans D., Singh, Prim B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2010
Subjects
Animals
Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - chemistry
Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone - metabolism
Histones - chemistry
Histones - metabolism
Humans
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Summary:A large body of work in various organisms has shown that the presence of HP1 structural proteins and methylated lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me) represent the characteristic hallmarks of heterochromatin. We propose that a more critical assessment of the physiological importance of the H3K9me–HP1 interaction is warranted in light of recent studies on the mammalian HP1β protein. Based on this new research, we conclude that the essential function of HP1β (and perhaps that of its orthologues in other species) lies outside the canonical heterochromatic H3K9me–HP1 interaction. We suggest instead that binding of a small fraction of HP1β to the H3 histone fold performs a critical role in heterochromatin function and organismal survival.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:0968-0004
1362-4326
DOI:10.1016/j.tibs.2009.09.003