Mass spectrometry analysis of Arabidopsis histone H3 reveals distinct combinations of post-translational modifications

Lianna Johnson, Sahana Mollah, Benjamin A. Garcia, Tara L. Muratore, Jeffrey Shabanowitz, Donald F. Hunt, Steven E. Jacobsen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

204 Scopus citations

Abstract

Chromatin is regulated at many different levels, from higher-order packing to individual nucleosome placement. Recent studies have shown that individual histone modifications, and combinations thereof, play a key role in modulating chromatin structure and gene activity. Reported here is an analysis of Arabidopsis histone H3 modifications by nanoflow-HPLC coupled to electrospray ionization on a hybrid linear ion trap-Fourier transform mass spectrometer (LTQ/FTMS). We find that the sites of acetylation and methylation, in general, correlate well with other plants and animals. Two well-studied modifications, dimethylation of Lys-9 (correlated with silencing) and acetylation of Lys-14 (correlated with active chromatin) while abundant by themselves were rarely found on the same histone H3 tail. In contrast, dimethylation at Lys-27 and monomethylation at Lys-36 were commonly found together. Interestingly, acetylation at Lys-9 was found only in a low percentage of histories while acetylation of Lys-14 was very abundant. The two histone H3 variants, H3.1 and H3.2, also differ in the abundance of silencing and activating marks confirming other studies showing that the replication-independent histone H3 is enriched in active chromatin.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6511-6518
Number of pages8
JournalNucleic acids research
Volume32
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - 2004

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Mass spectrometry analysis of Arabidopsis histone H3 reveals distinct combinations of post-translational modifications'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this