Julio S. Rufas: A true chromosome lover.
Published in Chromosoma
Various modes of HP1a interactions with the euchromatic chromosome arms in Drosophila ovarian somatic cells.
Published in Chromosoma
Heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a) is a well-known component of pericentromeric and telomeric heterochromatin in Drosophila. However, its role and the mechanisms of its binding in the chromosome arms (ChAs) remain largely unclear. Here, we identified HP1a-interacting domains in the somatic cells of Drosophila ovaries using a DamID-seq approach and c...
Pericentromere clustering in Tradescantia section Rhoeo involves self-associations of AT- and GC-rich heterochromatin fr...
Published in Chromosoma
A spectacular but poorly recognized nuclear repatterning is the association of heterochromatic domains during interphase. Using base-specific fluorescence and extended-depth-of-focus imaging, we show that the association of heterochromatic pericentromeres composed of AT- and GC-rich chromatin occurs on a large scale in cycling meiotic and somatic c...
Role of HP1β during spermatogenesis and DNA replication.
Published in Chromosoma
Heterochromatin protein 1β (HP1β), encoded by the Cbx1 gene, has been functionally linked to chromatin condensation, transcriptional regulation, and DNA damage repair. Here we report that testis-specific Cbx1 conditional knockout (Cbx1 cKO) impairs male germ cell development in mice. Depletion of HP1β negatively affected sperm maturation and increa...
Mutations in the insulator protein Suppressor of Hairy wing induce genome instability.
Published in Chromosoma
Insulator proteins orchestrate the three-dimensional organization of the genome. Insulators function by facilitating communications between regulatory sequences and gene promoters, allowing accurate gene transcription regulation during embryo development and cell differentiation. However, the role of insulator proteins beyond genome organization an...
Dampened X-chromosomes in human pluripotent stem cells: dampening or erasure of X-upregulation?
Published in Chromosoma
The recent report of X-chromosome dampening in human preimplantation embryos remains controversial. Subsequently, Sahakyan et al. found evidence of X-chromosome dampening in human naïve pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) as well. Here, we discuss whether X-dampening reported in hPSCs truly reflects the dampening of X-chromosomes or it is a consequence ...
Condensin I is required for faithful meiosis in Drosophila males.
Published in Chromosoma
The heteropentameric condensin complexes play vital roles in the formation and faithful segregation of mitotic chromosomes in eukaryotes. While the different contributions of the two common condensin complexes, condensin I and condensin II, to chromosome morphology and behavior in mitosis have been thoroughly investigated, much less is known about ...
Faint gray bands in Drosophila melanogaster polytene chromosomes are formed by coding sequences of housekeeping genes.
...Published in Chromosoma
In Drosophila melanogaster, the chromatin of interphase polytene chromosomes appears as alternating decondensed interbands and dense black or thin gray bands. Recently, we uncovered four principle chromatin states (4НММ model) in the fruit fly, and these were matched to the structures observed in polytene chromosomes. Ruby/malachite chromatin state...
Species-specific abundant retrotransposons elucidate the genomic composition of modern sugarcane cultivars.
Published in Chromosoma
Modern sugarcane cultivars are highly polyploid and derived from the hybridization of Saccharum officinarum and S. spontaneum, thus leading to singularly complex genomes. The complex genome has hindered the study of genomic structures. Here, we adopted a computational strategy to isolate highly repetitive and abundant sequences in either S. officin...
Heterochromatin formation in Drosophila requires genome-wide histone deacetylation in cleavage chromatin before mid-blas...
Published in Chromosoma
Su(var) mutations define epigenetic factors controlling heterochromatin formation and gene silencing in Drosophila . Here, we identify SU(VAR)2-1 as a novel chromatin regulator that directs global histone deacetylation during the transition of cleavage chromatin into somatic blastoderm chromatin in early embryogenesis. SU(VAR)2-1 is heterochromatin...
