The chromatin regulatory code: beyond a histone code

Abstract

In this commentary on the contribution by Arndt Benecke in this issue, I discuss why the notion of "chromatin code" introduced and elaborated in this paper is to be preferred to that of "histone code". Speaking of a code as regards nucleosome conformation and histone tail post-translational modifications only makes sense within the chromatin fiber, where their physico-chemical features can be translated into regulatory programs at the genome level, by means of a complex, multi-level interplay with the fiber architecture and dynamics settled in the course of Evolution. In particular, this chromatin code presumably exploits allosteric transitions of the chromatin fiber. The chromatin structure dependence of its translation suggests two alternative modes of transcription initiation regulation, also proposed in the paper by A. Benecke in this issue for interpreting strikingly bimodal micro-array data.