TY  - GEN
A1  - Teif, Vladimir B.
A1  - Cherstvy, Andrey G.
T1  - Chromatin and epigenetics: current biophysical views
T2  - AIMS biophysics
N2  - Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing experiments and their theoretical descriptions have determined fast dynamics of the "chromatin and epigenetics" field, with new concepts appearing at high rate. This field includes but is not limited to the study of DNA-protein-RNA interactions, chromatin packing properties at different scales, regulation of gene expression and protein trafficking in the cell nucleus, binding site search in the crowded chromatin environment and modulation of physical interactions by covalent chemical modifications of the binding partners. The current special issue does not pretend for the full coverage of the field, but it rather aims to capture its development and provide a snapshot of the most recent concepts and approaches. Eighteen open-access articles comprising this issue provide a delicate balance between current theoretical and experimental biophysical approaches to uncover chromatin structure and understand epigenetic regulation, allowing free flow of new ideas and preliminary results.
KW  - chromatin
KW  - epigenetics
KW  - linker histones
KW  - nucleosome
KW  - DNA-protein binding
KW  - histone modifications
KW  - remodelers
KW  - topologically associated domains
KW  - DNA methylation
KW  - DNA supercoiling
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3934/biophy.2016.1.88
SN  - 2377-9098
VL  - 3
SP  - 88
EP  - 98
PB  - American Institute of Mathematical Sciences
CY  - Springfield
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lämke, Jörn
A1  - Brzezinka, Krzysztof
A1  - Altmann, Simone
A1  - Bäurle, Isabel
T1  - A hit-and-run heat shock factor governs sustained histone methylation and transcriptional stress memory
JF  - The EMBO journal
N2  - In nature, plants often encounter chronic or recurring stressful conditions. Recent results indicate that plants can remember a past exposure to stress to be better prepared for a future stress incident. However, the molecular basis of this is poorly understood. Here, we report the involvement of chromatin modifications in the maintenance of acquired thermotolerance (heat stress [HS] memory). HS memory is associated with the accumulation of histone H3 lysine 4 di- and trimethylation at memory-related loci. This accumulation outlasts their transcriptional activity and marks them as recently transcriptionally active. High accumulation of H3K4 methylation is associated with hyper-induction of gene expression upon a recurring HS. This transcriptional memory and the sustained accumulation of H3K4 methylation depend on HSFA2, a transcription factor that is required for HS memory, but not initial heat responses. Interestingly, HSFA2 associates with memory-related loci transiently during the early stages following HS. In summary, we show that transcriptional memory after HS is associated with sustained H3K4 hyper-methylation and depends on a hit-and-run transcription factor, thus providing a molecular framework for HS memory.
KW  - chromatin
KW  - H3K4 methylation
KW  - heat shock transcription factor
KW  - priming
KW  - transcriptional memory
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.201592593
SN  - 0261-4189
SN  - 1460-2075
VL  - 35
SP  - 162
EP  - 175
PB  - Wiley-Blackwell
CY  - Hoboken
ER  -