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XB-ART-47535
Cell 2006 Nov 03;1273:495-508. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2006.08.047.
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Structural basis for the histone chaperone activity of Asf1.

English CM , Adkins MW , Carson JJ , Churchill ME , Tyler JK .


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Anti-silencing function 1 (Asf1) is a highly conserved chaperone of histones H3/H4 that assembles or disassembles chromatin during transcription, replication, and repair. The structure of the globular domain of Asf1 bound to H3/H4 determined by X-ray crystallography to a resolution of 1.7 Angstroms shows how Asf1 binds the H3/H4 heterodimer, enveloping the C terminus of histone H3 and physically blocking formation of the H3/H4 heterotetramer. Unexpectedly, the C terminus of histone H4 that forms a mini-beta sheet with histone H2A in the nucleosome undergoes a major conformational change upon binding to Asf1 and adds a beta strand to the Asf1 beta sheet sandwich. Interactions with both H3 and H4 were required for Asf1 histone chaperone function in vivo and in vitro. The Asf1-H3/H4 structure suggests a "strand-capture" mechanism whereby the H4 tail acts as a lever to facilitate chromatin disassembly/assembly that may be used ubiquitously by histone chaperones.

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Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: asf1a h2ac21 h4c4

References [+] :
Adkins, Chromatin disassembly mediated by the histone chaperone Asf1 is essential for transcriptional activation of the yeast PHO5 and PHO8 genes. 2004, Pubmed