title: Kluyveromyces lactis genome harbours a functional linker histone encoding gene.
abstract: Linker histones are essential components of chromatin in eukaryotes. Through interactions with linker DNA and nucleosomes they facilitate folding and maintenance of higher-order chromatin structures and thus delicately modulate gene activity. The necessity of linker histones in lower eukaryotes appears controversial and dubious. Genomic data have shown that Schizosaccharomyces pombe does not possess genes encoding linker histones while Kluyveromyces lactis has been reported to have a pseudogene. Regarding this controversy, we have provided the first direct experimental evidence for the existence of a functional linker histone gene, KlLH1, in K. lactis genome. Sequencing of KlLH1 from both genomic DNA and copy DNA confirmed the presence of an intact open reading frame. Transcription and splicing of the KlLH1 sequence as well as translation of its mRNA have been studied. In silico analysis revealed homology of KlLH1p to the histone H1/H5 protein family with predicted three domain structure characteristic for the linker histones of higher eukaryotes. This strongly proves that the yeast K. lactis does indeed possess a functional linker histone gene thus entailing the evolutionary preservation and significance of linker histones. The nucleotide sequences of KlLH1 are deposited in the GenBank under accession numbers KT826576, KT826577 and KT826578.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Yeast Molecular Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 'Acad. Roumen Tsanev', Sofia 1113, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Dessislava
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Staneva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Yeast Molecular Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 'Acad. Roumen Tsanev', Sofia 1113, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Milena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Georgieva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Yeast Molecular Genetics, Institute of Molecular Biology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 'Acad. Roumen Tsanev', Sofia 1113, Bulgaria gmlab@chromatinepigenetics.com.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miloshev
mesh_terms: D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007716:Kluyveromyces / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012326:RNA Splicing; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D006657:Histones
keywords: DNA sequencing; Kluyveromyces lactis; gene expression; in silico analysis; linker histone