Atypical chromatin structure of immune-related genes expressed in chicken erythrocytes.

Atypical chromatin structure of immune-related genes expressed in chicken erythrocytes. Biochem Cell Biol. 2019 Jul 05;: Authors: Jahan S, Beacon TH, Xu W, Davie JR Abstract The major biological role of red blood cells is to carry oxygen to the tissues in the body. However, another role of the erythroid cell is to participate in the immune response. Chicken mature erythrocytes express Toll-like receptors and several cytokines in response to immune stimulation. We previously reported the application of a biochemical fractionation protocol to isolate highly enriched transcribed DNA from chicken polychromatic erythrocytes. In conjunction with next-generation DNA, RNA sequencing, chromatin immunoprecipitation-DNA sequencing and FAIRE sequencing, we identified the active chromosomal compartments and determined their structural signatures in relation to expression levels. Here, we present the detailed chromatin characteristics of erythroid genes participating in the innate immune response. Our studies revealed an atypical chromatin structure for several genes coding for toll-like receptors, interleukins and interferon regulatory factors. The body of these genes had nucleosome free regions intermingled with nucleosomes modified with H3K4me3 and H3K27ac, suggesting a dynamic unstable chromatin structure. We further show that human genes involved in cell identity have gene bodies with the same chromatin instability features as the chicken pol...
Source: Biochemistry and Cell Biology - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Biochem Cell Biol Source Type: research