title: The many colours of chromodomains.
abstract: Local differences in chromatin organisation may profoundly affect the activity of eukaryotic genomes. Regulation at the level of DNA packaging requires the targeting of structural proteins and histone-modifying enzymes to specific sites and their stable or dynamic interaction with the nucleosomal fiber. The "chromodomain", a domain shared by many regulators of chromatin structure, has long been suspected to serve as a module mediating chromatin interactions in a variety of different protein contexts. However, recent functional analyses of a number of different chromodomains revealed an unexpected diversity of interaction targets, including histones, DNA and even RNA. The chromodomains of today seem to have evolved from a common ancestral fold to fulfill various functions in different molecular contexts. Combining information gained from recent functional and structural studies of chromodomains with a bioinformatic classification of their structure could lead to the definition of sequence motifs with predictive quality for chromodomain function.
authors.affiliation: Adolf-Butenandt-Institut, Molekularbiologie, München, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brehm
authors.forename: Katharina R
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Tufteland
authors.forename: Rein
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aasland
authors.forename: Peter B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Becker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D002868:Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins