Heterochromatin: did H3K9 methylation evolve to tame transposons?

doi:10.1186/s13059-021-02550-5

Editorial

. 2021 Dec 3;22(1):325.

doi: 10.1186/s13059-021-02550-5.

Heterochromatin: did H3K9 methylation evolve to tame transposons?

Manisha Kabi¹, Guillaume J Filion²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, M1C1A4 ON, Canada.
² Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, M1C1A4 ON, Canada. guillaume.filion@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 34857038
PMCID: PMC8641213
DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02550-5

Editorial

Heterochromatin: did H3K9 methylation evolve to tame transposons?

Manisha Kabi et al. Genome Biol. 2021.

. 2021 Dec 3;22(1):325.

doi: 10.1186/s13059-021-02550-5.

Authors

Manisha Kabi¹, Guillaume J Filion²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, M1C1A4 ON, Canada.
² Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, M1C1A4 ON, Canada. guillaume.filion@utoronto.ca.

PMID: 34857038
PMCID: PMC8641213
DOI: 10.1186/s13059-021-02550-5

No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Partial phylogeny of eukaryotes. The genomes of plants, animals, and fungi contain the epigenetic mark H3K9me3 (the lysine residue at position 9 of histone H3 can be tri-methylated). H3K9me3 is thus present in the clades Archaeplastida and Opisthokonta, which have a common ancestor close to the base of all eukaryotes. This suggests that H3K9me3 was already present in early eukaryotes, around the time when retrotransposons appeared in their genomes (phylogeny adapted from [6], showing only the clades that are relevant for the argument)

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References

1. Janssen A, Colmenares SU, Karpen GH. Heterochromatin: Guardian of the Genome. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2018;34:265–288. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100617-062653. - DOI - PubMed
1. Tsai K, Cullen BR. Epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation of viral replication. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020;18:559–570. doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0382-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Madhani HD. The frustrated gene: origins of eukaryotic gene expression. Cell. 2013;155:744–749. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
1. Malik HS, Burke WD, Eickbush TH. The age and evolution of non-LTR retrotransposable elements. Mol Biol Evol. 1999;16:793–805. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026164. - DOI - PubMed
1. Allshire RC, Madhani HD. Ten principles of heterochromatin formation and function. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2018;19:229–244. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2017.119. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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[1] Janssen A, Colmenares SU, Karpen GH. Heterochromatin: Guardian of the Genome. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2018;34:265–288. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100617-062653. - DOI - PubMed

[2] Janssen A, Colmenares SU, Karpen GH. Heterochromatin: Guardian of the Genome. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 2018;34:265–288. doi: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100617-062653. - DOI - PubMed

[3] Tsai K, Cullen BR. Epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation of viral replication. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020;18:559–570. doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0382-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[4] Tsai K, Cullen BR. Epigenetic and epitranscriptomic regulation of viral replication. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2020;18:559–570. doi: 10.1038/s41579-020-0382-3. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[5] Madhani HD. The frustrated gene: origins of eukaryotic gene expression. Cell. 2013;155:744–749. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[6] Madhani HD. The frustrated gene: origins of eukaryotic gene expression. Cell. 2013;155:744–749. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.10.003. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[7] Malik HS, Burke WD, Eickbush TH. The age and evolution of non-LTR retrotransposable elements. Mol Biol Evol. 1999;16:793–805. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026164. - DOI - PubMed

[8] Malik HS, Burke WD, Eickbush TH. The age and evolution of non-LTR retrotransposable elements. Mol Biol Evol. 1999;16:793–805. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a026164. - DOI - PubMed

[9] Allshire RC, Madhani HD. Ten principles of heterochromatin formation and function. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2018;19:229–244. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2017.119. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Allshire RC, Madhani HD. Ten principles of heterochromatin formation and function. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2018;19:229–244. doi: 10.1038/nrm.2017.119. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Heterochromatin: did H3K9 methylation evolve to tame transposons?

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Heterochromatin: did H3K9 methylation evolve to tame transposons?

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