Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Transcription-linked acetylation by Gcn5p of histones H3 and H4 at specific lysines

Nature volume 383, pages 269–272 (1996)Cite this article

Abstract

THE yeast transcriptional adaptor1–3, Gcn5p, is a catalytic subunit of a nuclear (type A) histone acetyltransferase linking histone acetylation to gene activation4–6. Here we report that Gcn5p acetylates histones H3 and H4 non-randomly at specific lysines in the amino-terminal domains. Lysine 14 of H3 and lysines 8 and 16 of H4 are highly preferred acetylation sites for Gcn5p. We also demonstrate that lysine 9 is the preferred position of acetylation in newly synthesized yeast H3 in vivo. This finding, along with the fact that lysines 5 and 12 in H4 are predominant acetylation sites during chromatin assembly of many organisms7–11, indicates that Gcn5p acetylates a distinct set of lysines that do not overlap with those sites characteristically used by type B histone acetyltransferase s for histone deposition and chromatin assembly.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Georgakopoulos, T. & Thireos, G. EMBO J. 11, 4145–4152 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Berger, S. L., Cress, W. D., Cress, A., Triezenberg, S. J. & Guarente, L. Cell 61, 1199–1208 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Berger, S. L. et al. Cell 70, 251–265 (1992).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Brownell, J. E. et al. Cell 84, 843–851 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Wolffe, A. P. & Pruss, D. Cell 84, 817–819 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Brownell, J. E. & Allis, C. D. Curr. Opin. Genet. Dev. 6, 176–184 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Chicoine, L. G., Schulman, I. G., Richman, R., Cook, R. G. & Allis, C. D. J. Biol. Chem. 261, 1071–1076 (1986).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Sobel, R. E., Cook, R. G. & Allis, C. D. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 18576–18582 (1994).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Munks, R. J., Moore, J., O'Neill, L. P. & Turner, B. M. FEBS Lett. 284, 245–248 (1991).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Turner, B. M., O'Neill, L. P. & Allan, I. M. FEBS Lett. 253, 141–145 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Thorne, A. W., Kmiciek, D., Mitchelson, K., Sautiere, P. & Crane-Robinson, C. Eur. J. Biochem. 193, 701–713 (1990).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Clarke, D. J., O'Neill, L. P. & Turner, B. M. Biochem. J. 294, 557–561 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Sobel, R. E., Cook, R. G., Perry, C. A., Annunziato, A. T. & Allis, C. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 1237–1241 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Candau, R. & Berger, S. L. J. Biol. Chem. 271, 5237–5245 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Georgakopoulos, T., Gounalaki, N. & Thiros, G. Mol. Gen. Genet. 246, 723–728 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Horiuchi, J., Silverman, N., Marcus, G. A. & Guarente, L. Mol. Cell. Biol. 15, 1203–1209 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Yang, X.-J., Ogryzko, V. V., Nishikawa, J.-I., Howard, B. H. & Nakatani, Y. Nature 382, 319–324 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Edmondson, D. G., Smith, M. M. & Roth, S. Y. Genes Dev. 10, 1247–1259 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Gorovsky, M. A., Yao, M.-C., Keevert, J. B. & Pleger, G. L. Methods Cell Biol. 9, 311–327 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Vavra, K. J., Allis, C. D. & Gorovsky, M. A. J. Biol. Chem. 257, 2591–2598 (1982).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Braunstein, M., Sobel, R. E., Allis, C. D., Turner, B. M. & Broach, J. R. Mol. Cell. Biol. 16, 4349–4356 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Horiuchi, K. & Fujimoto, D. Anal. Biochem. 69, 491–496 (1975).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Brownell, J. E. & Allis, C. D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 6364–6368 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. Diane G. Edmondson & Sharon Y. Roth

    Present address: Zoology Department, University of British Columbia, 6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC, V6T1Z4, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 14627, USA

    Min-Hao Kuo, James E. Brownell, Richard E. Sobel, Tamara A. Ranalli & C. David Allis

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Richard E. Sobel

  3. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA

    Richard G. Cook

Authors
  1. Min-Hao Kuo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James E. Brownell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Richard E. Sobel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tamara A. Ranalli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Richard G. Cook
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Diane G. Edmondson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Sharon Y. Roth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. C. David Allis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kuo, MH., Brownell, J., Sobel, R. et al. Transcription-linked acetylation by Gcn5p of histones H3 and H4 at specific lysines. Nature 383, 269–272 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1038/383269a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/383269a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing