“Are your histones holding you back? Dinoflagellates present a new model for chromatin management.”

The control of packaging, expression, and maintenance of nuclear genomes using histone proteins is a ubiquitous and fundamental feature of eukaryotic cells, yet the phylum Dinoflagellata has apparently abandoned this model of nuclear organization. Their nuclei contain permanently condensed, liquid crystalline chromosomes that seemingly lack histone proteins but contain remarkably large genomes. In place of histones is a novel nucleoprotein that is found only in dinoflagellates and select large DNA viruses. Biophysical characterisation of this new protein suggests a radically different model for genome management in this highly successful group of eukaryotes.

 

Ross Waller

University of Cambridge