The histone variant H2A.W: a novel component that structures chromatin domains

DNA is wrapped around nucleosomes that are made of two of each core histones H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. We have identified a new core histone variant H2A.W that occupies the major portion of the condensed heterochromatin in plants. Heterochromatin is a key feature that is essential for genome integrity through repression of transposon and for transmission through cell division because of the link between heterochromatin and the mitotic kinetochores. We showed that H2A.W is largely responsible for organization of heterochromatin into higher order dense chromocenters. Here, we wish to assess the impact of H2A.W on chromatin architecture analyzed and represented by Hi-C approach and confront these data with chromatin structure revealed at high definition by super-resolution microscopy. In addition we have shown that H2A.W participates in transcriptional silencing but we do not know the molecular mechanisms involved. Here, we wish to test whether non-coding RNAs participate in this process using a genome-wide deep sequencing strategy. Altogether the project will enhance our understanding of the organization of the cell nucleus and its role in silencing genome expression. The project is based on collaboration between the Berger Lab at GMI in Vienna which contributes expertise in bench work on histone variants and the Chen Lab at Academia Sinica in Taipei whose members contribute their expertise in bioinformatics.

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