The Plant Cell 18:2868
Facets of Histone Acetylation Required for Light-Responsive Gene Expression
Histone acetylation is an important component of chromatin structure that affects gene transcription. Hyperacetylation of histones relaxes chromatin structure and is associated with transcriptional activation, whereas hypoacetylation of histones induces chromatin compaction and gene repression. Benhamed et al. (pages 2893–2903) present new information on the effects of histone acetylation of chromatin on light-regulated gene expression. This work firmly establishes the pivotal role of Arabidopsis GCN5 and HD1 in controlling histone acetylation levels over several light-responsive genes and makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role played by chromatin in regulating gene expression. It was previously found that the histone acetyltransferase TAF1 is required for light regulation of gene expression. In this work, the authors show that histone acetyltransferase GCN5 and histone deacetylase HD1 are also involved and play opposing roles that may help to fine-tune and balance light regulation of gene expression. Mutations of GCN5 resulted in a long hypocotyl phenotype and reduced light-induced gene expression, whereas mutations in HD1 had the opposite effect. The authors further characterize the extent and type of histone acetylation on target promoters and find that TAF1, GCN5, and HD1 have distinct and specific effects on histone acetylation required for light regulation of gene expression.
Footnotes
www.plantcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1105/tpc.106.181110
Related articles in Plant Cell:
- Arabidopsis GCN5, HD1, and TAF1/HAF2 Interact to Regulate Histone Acetylation Required for Light-Responsive Gene Expression
- Moussa Benhamed, Claire Bertrand, Caroline Servet, and Dao-Xiu Zhou
Plant Cell 2006 18: 2893-2903.
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