Global and Specific Analysis of Histone Turnover Dynamics in Arabidopsis thaliana

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Isabel Bäurle
• Subject Area: Plant Genetics and Genomics ; Plant Biochemistry and Biophysics
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 545419122

Transcription, DNA replication and repair all require the reorganisation of nucleosomes. Histone turnover and recycling mediate nucleosome dynamics and contribute to varying degrees at individual loci. The balance of nucleosome recycling and replacement has direct consequences for the stability and inheritance of histone modifications, however, how this regulates the inheritance of epigenetic states is poorly understood. We recently discovered a link between histone turnover and the maintenance of environmentally-induced histone methylation. Genes with heat-stress induced transcriptional memory display lower histone turnover than non-memory genes during the memory phase, providing a tentative mechanism of how high methylation levels are maintained throughout the memory phase without continued de novo methylation. Using a combination of epigenomic approaches under normal and stress conditions, this project will determine the global pattern of histone turnover, and will investigate the role of histone chaperones and histone methylation for this process. This will enable the first global view of histone turnover in a plant, and will also functionally validate its role in environmentally-induced epigenetic responses.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants