Chromatin replication and parental histone allocation

Abstract

The propagation of epigenetic information across cell divisions is crucial to the maintenance of cell identity. During DNA replication, both parental and newly synthesized histones are deposited onto the replicating DNA, where they assemble into nucleosomes. Parental histones bear a variety of post-translational modifications, which constitute crucial epigenetic information, and the pattern of parental and newly synthesized histone allocation is crucial for the determination and maintenance of cell fate in multicellular organisms. The DNA replication-coupled nucleosome assembly process is regulated by multitude of histone chaperones, and recent breakthroughs in next-generation sequencing and super-resolution imaging methods have provided novel insights into the underlying mechanisms. Here, we review recent findings concerning parental histone deposition onto replicating DNA strands and the segregation of these to symmetrically or asymmetrically dividing daughter cells. Furthermore, we discuss the role of the allocation patterns of parental and newly synthesized histones in the determination of cell fate.

Funding

the National Key R&D Program of China(2019YFA0903803); Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics(2019B030301006); Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Synthetic Genomics(ZDSYS201802061806209)