Cell Reports (Jul 2013)

Subunits of the Histone Chaperone CAF1 Also Mediate Assembly of Protamine-Based Chromatin

  • Cécile M. Doyen,
  • Yuri M. Moshkin,
  • Gillian E. Chalkley,
  • Karel Bezstarosti,
  • Jeroen A.A. Demmers,
  • Christina Rathke,
  • Renate Renkawitz-Pohl,
  • C. Peter Verrijzer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2013.06.002
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 4, no. 1
pp. 59 – 65

Abstract

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One of the most dramatic forms of chromatin reorganization occurs during spermatogenesis, when the paternal genome is repackaged from a nucleosomal to a protamine-based structure. We assessed the role of the canonical histone chaperone CAF1 in Drosophila spermatogenesis. In this process, CAF1 does not behave as a complex, but its subunits display distinct chromatin dynamics. During histone-to-protamine replacement, CAF1-p180 dissociates from the DNA while CAF1-p75 binds and stays on as a component of sperm chromatin. Association of CAF1-p75 with the paternal genome depends on CAF1-p180 and protamines. Conversely, CAF1-p75 binds protamines and is required for their incorporation into sperm chromatin. Histone removal, however, occurs independently of CAF1 or protamines. Thus, CAF1-p180 and CAF1-p75 function in a temporal hierarchy during sperm chromatin assembly, with CAF1-p75 acting as a protamine-loading factor. These results show that CAF1 subunits mediate the assembly of two fundamentally different forms of chromatin.