Histone acetylation dynamics regulating plant development and stress responses

Histone Acetylation Changes in Plant Response to Drought Stress

“…Chromatin is a highly ordered structure composed of DNA, histones and other chromosomal proteins. The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which consists of 147 bp of DNA wrapped 1.7 times around an octamer protein core of histones containing two copies of H2A, H2B, H3 and H4 (Figure 2) [25,33]. There are 14 contact points between histones and DNA, contributing to the compactness and stability of chromatin [34].…”

“…The levels of acetylated histones are dynamic and depend on the combined action processes catalyzed by two groups of enzymes, histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs) (Figure 3) [37]. HATs catalyze the transfer of the acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme-A onto the ε-amino acid group of lysine residues, making histones less positively charged and therefore less attracted to the negatively charged DNA resulting in an "open" chromatin [33,38,39]. HDACs do the opposite-removing the acetyl group from the lysine residues to "close" chromatin [33,40].…”

“…HATs catalyze the transfer of the acetyl group from acetyl coenzyme-A onto the ε-amino acid group of lysine residues, making histones less positively charged and therefore less attracted to the negatively charged DNA resulting in an "open" chromatin [33,38,39]. HDACs do the opposite-removing the acetyl group from the lysine residues to "close" chromatin [33,40]. At any given time and place, the quantity of the acetylated histones, quantifiable by ChIP (Chromatin immunoprecipitation), represents the net action of histone acetylation [13].…”

“…The level of histone acetylation is determined by the regulation of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylases (HDACs), and the antagonism between HATs and HDACs leads to dynamic control of chromatin structure [39,44]. HATs are responsible for adding acetyl groups to histones causing increasing histone acetylation; this process results in gene activation [33,38]. HDACs are responsible for removing acetyl groups added by HATs to reduce histone acetylation, and HDACs always associate with gene repression [33,40,45].…”

“…HATs are responsible for adding acetyl groups to histones causing increasing histone acetylation; this process results in gene activation [33,38]. HDACs are responsible for removing acetyl groups added by HATs to reduce histone acetylation, and HDACs always associate with gene repression [33,40,45]. Evidence in previous research indicates that HATs and HDACs always target the lysine residues of H3 and H4, such as H3K9, H3K14, H3K18, H3K23, H3K27, H3K36, H4K5, H4K8, H4K12 and H4K16 to maintain the dynamic balance of histone acetylation in plants [33].…”