Abstract
Eukaryotic chromosomes consist of chromatin, which is locally remodeled by the action of histone-modifying enzymes, ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors, and sequence-specific DNA binding proteins such as transcription factors. Recently, it has been demonstrated that acetylation and phosphorylation of histones play pivotal roles in the regulation of repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), recruiting some other DNA repair proteins and factors related to cell cycle checkpoint systems.
We have been involved in the study on regulation of meiotic homologous recombination in yeast as a model system. We found that a subclass of meiotic homologous recombination is positively regulated in a site-dependent manner by the histone acetylation and remodeling mediated by histone acetylases (HATs) and ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling (ADCR) factors. Similar regulation of homologous recombination by histone acetylation can be found in the gene conversion (a type of homologous recombination) occurring in the cultured chicken B-cell line DT40. From these results, together with some data by others, I would like to discuss about the roles of histone modification and chromatin remodeling in the regulation of homologous recombination.
