Histone exchange program

An integrin’s gut instincts E pithelial β1 integrins are known for their anchoring abilities. But their talents are different in the gut, say Jones et al. (page 505), where cells without β1 integrin stick just fi ne but overproliferate. By anchoring cells to the matrix, β1 integrin probably keeps cells alive and cycling. Indeed, proliferation is promoted, not halted, by this integrin in skin and mammary epithelia. So Jones and colleagues were surprised to fi nd that mouse gut epithelial stem cells were hyperproliferative upon loss of β1 integrin. Too busy dividing, these stem cells did not differentiate into a proper epithelium. As a result, the mutant mice died soon after birth from a lack of nutrient absorption. Different receptors must stick these stem cells to their matrix, as the authors found no anchorage or survival problems. Here, β1 integrin appears to be more concerned with signaling; its loss led to a PI3K-dependent decrease in Hedgehog (Hh) expression. The loss of intestinal Hh is known to increase cell proliferation. Gut epithelial cells lack Hh receptors, so the authors suspect that Hh acts on the surrounding stromal cells, which respond by making molecules such as BMPs that downregulate epithelial proliferation. The situation is different in the skin and breast, where Hh is both expressed and detected by epithelial cells. Histone exchange program A phosphatase removes signs of damage from free histones and then chaperones the histones back into chromatin, say Kimura et al. (page 389). Histone assembly into chromatin is often studied in vivo by using fl uorescently tagged proteins. But these studies rely on making guesses about what machinery might be involved. In vitro systems are less biased but generally lack the structural complexity and heterogeneity of natural chromatin. Kimura’s group got the best of both worlds by using permeabilized cells, which maintain their natural chromatin structure. Yet the system allowed the authors to purify unanticipated histone assembly and exchange factors, including protein phosphatase 2Cγ (PP2Cγ), which inserted histone H2A and H2B into preassembled nucleosomes. PP2Cγ also dephosphorylated H2A and H2B. As phosphates mark histones at DNA-damaged sites, they must be removed from histones that will be inserted into undamaged sites. Cells lacking PP2Cγ were more sensitive to DNA damage only if they lacked the delay imposed by replication and damage checkpoints. Most dephosphorylation is thus probably done by PP2A, while PP2Cγ picks up the slack when cells have very little time before the next mitosis. Chromatin from permeabilized cells remains competent for replication and transcription, so the authors now hope to characterize the nucleosome changes that accompany these events.