Journal
EMBO REPORTS
Volume 20, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.15252/embr.201846331
Keywords
epigenetics; histone H3 clipping; malaria
Categories
Funding
- Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia, Mexico [177852]
- French-Mexican collaborative program PARACTIN (ANR-CONACyT Paractin) [140364]
- FOSISS-CONACyT [272364]
- European Research Council Advanced Grant [670301]
- French Parasitology consortium ParaFrap [ANR-11-LABX0024]
- Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia grant [228896]
- Carnot-Pasteur-Maladies Infectieuse fellowship
- European Research Council (ERC) [670301] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
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Post-translational modifications of histone H3 N-terminal tails are key epigenetic regulators of virulence gene expression and sexual commitment in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Here, we identify proteolytic clipping of the N-terminal tail of nucleosome-associated histone H3 at amino acid position 21 as a new chromatin modification. A cathepsin C-like proteolytic clipping activity is observed in nuclear parasite extracts. Notably, an ectopically expressed version of clipped histone H3, PfH3p-HA, is targeted to the nucleus and integrates into mononucleosomes. Furthermore, chromatin immunoprecipitation and next-generation sequencing analysis identified PfH3p-HA as being highly enriched in the upstream region of six genes that play a key role in DNA replication and repair: In these genes, PfH3p-HA demarcates a specific 1.5 kb chromatin island adjacent to the open reading frame. Our results indicate that, in P. falciparum, the process of histone clipping may precede chromatin integration hinting at preferential targeting of pre-assembled PfH3p-containing nucleosomes to specific genomic regions. The discovery of a protease-directed mode of chromatin organization in P. falciparum opens up new avenues to develop new anti-malarials.
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