Nucleosome Positioning by Human Alu Elements in Chromatin
Alu sequences are interspersed throughout the genomes of primate cells, occurring singly and in clusters around RNA polymerase II-transcribed genes. Because these repeat elements are capable of positioning nucleosomes in in vitro reconstitutes (Englander, E. W., Wolffe, A. P., and Howard, B. H. (199...
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Published in | The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 270; no. 17; pp. 10091 - 10096 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
28.04.1995
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Alu sequences are interspersed throughout the genomes of primate cells, occurring singly and in clusters around RNA polymerase
II-transcribed genes. Because these repeat elements are capable of positioning nucleosomes in in vitro reconstitutes (Englander, E. W., Wolffe, A. P., and Howard, B. H. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 19565-19573), we investigated whether they also [Abstract] influence in vivo chromatin structure. When assayed collectively using consensus sequence probes and native chromatin as template, Alu family
members were found to confer rotational positioning on nucleosomes or nucleosome-like particles. In particular, a 10-base
pair pattern of DNase I nicking that spanned the RNA polymerase III box A promoter motif extended upstream to cover diverse
5â²-flanking sequences, suggesting that Alu repeats may influence patterns of nucleosome formation over neighboring regions.
Computational analysis of a set of naturally occurring Alu sequences indicated that nucleosome positioning information is
intrinsic to these elements. Inasmuch as local chromatin organization influences gene expression, the capacity of Alu sequences
to affect chromatin structure as demonstrated here may help to clarify some features of these elements. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
ISSN: | 0021-9258 1083-351X |
DOI: | 10.1074/jbc.270.17.10091 |