Modeling the dynamics of bivalent histone modifications.
Epigenetic modifications to histones may promote either activation or repression of the transcription of nearby genes. Recent experimental studies show that the promoters of many lineage-control genes in stem cells have "bivalent domains" in which the nucleosomes contain both active (H3K4me3) and repressive (H3K27me3) marks. It is generally agreed that bivalent domains play an important role in stem cell differentiation, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we formulate a mathematical model to investigate the dynamic properties of histone modification patterns. We then illustrate that our modeling framework can be used to capture key features of experimentally observed combinatorial chromatin states.
Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America ; Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, United States of America.
Wai Lim
WL
Ku
Michelle
M
Girvan
Guo-Cheng
GC
Yuan
Francesco
F
Sorrentino
Edward
E
Ott
D000818:Animals; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D053595:Embryonic Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D011499:Protein Processing, Post-Translational
D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes