Absence of canonical marks of active chromatin in developmentally regulated genes

Pérez-Lluch, Sílvia; Blanco, Enrique; Tilgner, Hagen, 1980-; Curado, Joao; Ruiz-Romero, Marina; Corominas Guiu, Montserrat; Guigó Serra, Roderic

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3381

Absence of canonical marks of active chromatin in developmentally regulated genes

Citation

Pérez-Lluch, Blanco E, Tilgner H, Curado J, Ruiz-Romero M, Coromina M et al. Absence of canonical marks of active chromatin in developmentally regulated genes. Nat Genet. 2015 Oct;47(10):1158-67. DOI: 10.1038/ng.3381

Abstract

The interplay of active and repressive histone modifications is assumed to have a key role in the regulation of gene expression. In contrast to this generally accepted view, we show that the transcription of genes temporally regulated during fly and worm development occurs in the absence of canonically active histone modifications. Conversely, strong chromatin marking is related to transcriptional and post-transcriptional stability, an association that we also observe in mammals. Our results support a model in which chromatin marking is associated with the stable production of RNA, whereas unmarked chromatin would permit rapid gene activation and deactivation during development. In the latter case, regulation by transcription factors would have a comparatively more important regulatory role than chromatin marks.