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1: Science. 2003 Jan 31;299(5607):719-21.Click here to read Links

Modulation of heterochromatin protein 1 dynamics in primary Mammalian cells.

Festenstein R, Pagakis SN, Hiragami K, Lyon D, Verreault A, Sekkali B, Kioussis D.

CSC Gene Control Mechanisms and Disease Group, Division of Medicine, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Campus, Du Cane Road, London W12 ONN, UK. r.festenstein@ic.ac.uk

Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1beta), a key component of condensed DNA, is strongly implicated in gene silencing and centromeric cohesion. Heterochromatin has been considered a static structure, stabilizing crucial aspects of nuclear organization and prohibiting access to transcription factors. We demonstrate here, by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, that a green fluorescent protein-HP1beta fusion protein is highly mobile within both the euchromatin and heterochromatin of ex vivo resting murine T cells. Moreover, T cell activation greatly increased this mobility, indicating that such a process may facilitate (hetero)chromatin remodeling and permit access of epigenetic modifiers and transcription factors to the many genes that are consequently derepressed.

PMID: 12560554 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]