Neutrophil extracellular traps are networks of DNA and associated proteins produced by nucleosome release from activated neutrophils in response to infection stimuli and have recently been identified as key mediators between innate immunity, inflammation, and hemostasis. The interaction of DNA and histones with a number of hemostatic factors has been shown to promote clotting and is associated ...

Multicellular organisms have evolved multiple times throughout the history of life on Earth. The most recent transition to multicellularity occurred about 200 MYA within the volvocine algae, with phenotypes ranging from unicellular, undifferentiated multicellular and differentiated multicellular all with sequenced genomes. Interestingly, while the genomes of these organisms are very similar sho...

Methylation of histones mediates transcriptional silencing at heterochromatin sites and affects regulated transcription at euchromatic loci. So is the methyl group a permanent mark on histones, or can it be removed by an active process necessary for regulated gene expression?

Specific lysyl residues of trout testis histones H3 and H4 are methylated partially during rainbow trout spermatogenesis. Histones H1, H2A, H2B, and protamine are not methylated. The single site (lysine 20) in histone H4 and the two major sites (lysines 9 and 27) in histone H3 are homologous to those determined for other organisms, but an additional minor site (lysine 4) occurs in histone H3. A...

Chromatin integrity is critical for cell function and identity but is challenged by DNA damage. To understand how chromatin architecture and the information that it conveys are preserved or altered following genotoxic stress, we established a system for real-time tracking of parental histones, which characterize the pre-damage chromatin state. Focusing on histone H3 dynamics after local UVC irr...

Calf-thymus nucleohistone studied by a newly developed ;SDS gradient' centrifugation technique showed that histones dissociate sequentially when treated with increasing concentrations of sodium dodecylsulfate. Histones F2a1 and F2a2 were dissociated first at about 0.03% sodium dodecylsulfate, and F1 was removed lastly by the highest concentration of sodium dodecylsulfate (0.06% or more). A DNA-...

Covalent modifications of histones are a crucial component of epigenetic events that regulate chromatin structures and gene function. Evidence exists that distinct lysine residues in histones are modified by covalent attachment of the vitamin biotin, catalyzed by biotinidase and holocarboxylase synthetase. Biotinylation of histones appears to be conserved across species. The following biotinyla...

Antibodies to histones (AHA) are commonly found in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). However, the full profile of AHA and their clinical associations remains unclear. A total of 111 patients with SLE were studied, including 13 patients in whom multiple serum samples were available over several years. IgM, IgG, and IgA antibodies to total core histones, histone complexes, and ind...

INTRODUCTION Recent studies have shown that histones, the chief protein component of chromatin, are released into the extracellular space during sepsis, trauma, and ischemia-reperfusion injury, and act as major mediators of the death of an organism. This study was designed to elucidate the cellular and molecular basis of histone-induced lethality and to assess the protective effects of recombin...