histone

Also known as histones

AI overview

Histones are proteins found in the nuclei of eukaryotic cells that act as spools around which DNA winds, helping to organize and protect the genetic material. They are essential for preventing DNA from becoming tangled, shielding it from damage, and controlling which genes are turned on or off in cells.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

160,348 papers

Lateral Thinking: How Histone Modifications Regulate Gene Expression.ReviewTrends in genetics : TIG · 2016Lawrence M, Daujat S, Schneider RDOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2015.10.007
Erasers of histone acetylation: the histone deacetylase enzymes.ReviewCold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology · 2014Seto E, Yoshida MDOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a018713
Histone variants at a glance.ReviewJournal of cell science · 2021Talbert PB, Henikoff SDOI: 10.1242/jcs.244749
Histone variants: The bricks that fit differently.ReviewThe Journal of biological chemistry · 2025Hegazy YA, Dhahri H, El Osmani N et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jbc.2024.108048
Histone acetyltransferase 1 is a succinyltransferase for histones and non-histones and promotes tumorigenesis.EMBO reports · 2021Yang G, Yuan Y, Yuan H et al.DOI: 10.15252/embr.202050967
H3-H4 histone chaperones and cancer.ReviewCurrent opinion in genetics & development · 2022Ray-Gallet D, Almouzni GDOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2022.101900
Histone degradation by the proteasome regulates chromatin and cellular plasticity.ReviewThe FEBS journal · 2022Shmueli MD, Sheban D, Eisenberg-Lerner A et al.DOI: 10.1111/febs.15903
Primate-specific histone variants.ReviewGenome · 2021Ding D, Nguyen TT, Pang MYH et al.DOI: 10.1139/gen-2020-0094

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Wikidata facts

Image: Nucleosome structure-2.png

Sources (6)

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~37 min read

Article

33 sections

Contents

Classes and variants
Structure
Evolution and species distribution
Function{{anchor|Histone modifications}}
Compacting DNA strands
Transcription
Chromatin regulation
Modification{{anchor|Histone_modification}}
Chemistry
Lysine methylation
Glutamine serotonylation
Arginine methylation
Arginine citrullination
Lysine acetylation
Serine/threonine/tyrosine phosphorylation
Effects on transcription
Actively transcribed genes
Repressed genes
Bivalent promoters
Other functions
DNA damage repair
Chromosome condensation
Addiction
Histone chaperones
Chaperone networks
Synthesis
Yeast
Metazoan
Link between cell-cycle control and synthesis
History
See also
References
External links

thumb|300px|Schematic representation of the assembly of the core histones into the nucleosome In biology, histones are highly-basic proteins abundant in lysine and arginine residues that are found in eukaryotic cell nuclei and in most Archaeal phyla. They act as spools around which DNA winds to create structural units called nucleosomes. Nucleosomes in turn are wrapped into 30-nanometer fibers that form tightly packed chromatin. Histones prevent DNA from becoming tangled and protect it from DNA damage. In addition, histones play important roles in gene regulation and DNA replication. Without histones, unwound DNA in chromosomes would be very long. For example, each human cell has about 1.8 meters of DNA if completely stretched out; however, when wound about histones, this length is reduced to about 9 micrometers (0.009 mm) of 30 nm diameter chromatin fibers.

There are five families of histones, which are designated H1/H5 (linker histones), H2, H3, and H4 (core histones). The nucleosome core is formed of two H2A-H2B dimers and a H3-H4 tetramer. The tight wrapping of DNA around histones, is to a large degree, a result of electrostatic attraction between the positively charged histones and negatively charged phosphate backbone of DNA.