Tuning acetylated chromatin with HAT inhibitors: A novel tool for therapy

• Published in: Epigenetics Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 105 - 111
• Main Authors: Vernarecci, Stefano, Tosi, Federica, Filetici, Patrizia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 16-02-2010
• Subjects: Acetylation - drug effects; Animals; Binding; Biology; Bioscience; Calcium; Cancer; Cell; Chromatin - metabolism; Cycle; Enzyme Inhibitors - chemistry; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Enzyme Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Epistasis, Genetic - drug effects; Histone Acetyltransferases - antagonists & inhibitors; Humans; Landes; Neoplasms - drug therapy; Organogenesis; Proteins; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - drug effects; Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
• ISSN: 1559-2294; 1559-2308
• DOI: 10.4161/epi.5.2.10942

Epigenetics, the heritable changes that do not involve DNA sequences, give dynamic propulsion to a static genome and modulate genome accessibility by acting through multiple layers of regulation, ultimately ending with a variable organization of chromatin. The main player in chromatin reprograming is the nucleosome, which modifies its association to DNA depending on a variety of post-translational modifications (PTMs) on histone tails. PTMs act directly on higher order chromatin structures and affect the degree of DNA wrap around the histone octamer and the interaction and/or sequential recruitment of chromatin-associated proteins and transcription factors at defined regions.1 Recently genomic approaches revealed a far more complex epigenome involving key proteins of cell signaling.