title: Distinct chromatin signature of histone H3 variant H3.3 in human cells.
abstract: Actively transcribed regions of the genome have been found enriched for the histone H3 variant H3.3. This variant is incorporated into nucleosomes throughout the cell cycle whereas the canonical isoforms are predominately deposited in association with replication. In order to obtain a global picture of the deposition pattern at the single cell level we expressed H3.3 in both normal and malignant human cells and analyzed nuclei using conventional and structured illumination imaging (SIM). We found that the distribution pattern of H3.3 in interphase differs from that of the canonical histone H3 variants and this difference is conveyed to mitotic chromosomes which display a distinct H3.3 banding pattern. Histone H3.3 localization positively correlated with markers for transcriptionally active chromatin and, notably, H3.3 was almost completely absent from the inactive X chromosome. Collectively, our data show that histone variant H3.3 occupies distinct intranuclear chromatin domains and that these genomic loci are associated with gene expression.
authors.affiliation: a Department for Cell and Developmental Biology; Medical Imaging Cluster; Medical University of Vienna; Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Snyers
authors.forename: Gordin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zupkovitz
authors.forename: Marlene
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Almeder
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fliesser
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stoisser
authors.forename: Klara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weipoltshammer
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schöfer
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D041321:Chromosomes, Human, X / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015894:Genome, Human; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000235:genetics; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D009707:Nucleosomes
keywords: chromatin; histones; nuclear architecture; superresolution imaging; transcription