Mechanisms of Epigenetic inheritance

 描述（由申请人提供）：在细胞周期的S期，表观遗传状态如何遗传是染色质和表观遗传领域最具挑战性的问题之一。DNA复制偶联的核小体组装在表观遗传中起着继DNA复制和DNA修复之后的重要作用。大多数（如果不是全部）参与复制偶联核小体组装的基因的突变导致酵母和哺乳动物细胞中异染色质处的转录沉默缺陷和基因组不稳定性。我们一直在研究核小体是如何在酵母和人类细胞中DNA复制后形成的，并对这一过程做出了多项重大贡献。然而，亲本组蛋白（H3-H4）2四聚体如何转移到复制DNA仍然知之甚少，这阻碍了我们对表观遗传信息传递到子细胞的理解。理解亲本组蛋白（H3-H4）2组装的主要挑战是缺乏跟踪这一过程的方法。尽管面临这一挑战，我们还是开发了eSPAN（富集和测序蛋白质相关新生DNA）方法，该方法可以辨别蛋白质是否与DNA复制叉的前导链或滞后链结合。这种方法使我们能够第一次监测新合成的和亲本组蛋白（H3-H4）2的核小体组装到DNA复制叉的前导链和滞后链上。在这项提案中，我们将阐明分子机制，父母（H3-H4）2组装成核小体后，DNA复制和表观遗传标记是如何继承在酵母和人类细胞有丝分裂细胞分裂过程中使用遗传，生物化学和基因组方法的组合。总之，我们的研究应该对理解核小体组装和表观遗传产生深远的影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): How epigenetic states are inherited during S phase of the cell cycle is one of the most challenging questions in the chromatin and epigenetic fields. DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly plays an important role in epigenetic inheritance following DNA replication and DNA repair. Mutations of most, if not all, genes involved in replication-coupled nucleosome assembly result in defects in transcriptional silencing at heterochromatin and genome instability in both yeast and mammalian cells. We have been studying how nucleosomes are formed following DNA replication in yeast and human cells and have made multiple significant contributions to this process. However, how parental histone (H3-H4)2 tetramers are transferred to replicating DNA is still poorly understood, which hinders our understanding of transmission of epigenetic information into daughter cells. The major challenge to understanding parental histone (H3-H4)2 assembly is a lack of methods to track this process. Despite this challenge, we have developed the eSPAN (enrichment and Sequencing Protein- Associated Nascent DNA) method that can discern whether a protein binds to leading or lagging strands of DNA replication forks. This method enables us for the first time to monitor nucleosome assembly of both newly synthesized and parental histone (H3-H4)2 onto leading and lagging strands of DNA replication forks. In this proposal, we will elucidate molecular mechanisms whereby parental (H3-H4)2 are assembled into nucleosomes following DNA replication and how epigenetic marks are inherited during mitotic cell division in both yeast and human cells using a combination of genetic, biochemical and genomic approaches. Together, our studies should have a profound impact on the understanding of nucleosome assembly and epigenetic inheritance.