Posttranslational histone modifications are important for the regulation of many biological phenomena. Here, we show the purification and characterization of nucleosomal histone kinase-1 (NHK-1). NHK-1 has a high affinity for chromatin and phosphorylates a novel site, Thr 119, at the C terminus of H2A. Notably, NHK-1 specifically phosphorylates nucleosomal H2A, but not free H2A in solution. In Drosophila embryos, phosphorylated H2A Thr 119 is found in chromatin, but not in the soluble core histone pool. Immunostaining of NHK-1 revealed that it goes to chromatin during mitosis and is excluded from chromatin during S phase. Consistent with the shuttling of NHK-1 between chromatin and cytoplasm, H2A Thr 119 is phosphorylated during mitosis but not in S phase. These studies reveal that NHK-1-catalyzed phosphorylation of a conserved serine/threonine residue in H2A is a new component of the histone code that might be related to cell cycle progression.[Keywords: Nucleosome; phosphorylation; histone code; transcription; NHK-1] Supplemental material is available at http://genesdev.org.

The activities of developmentally critical transcription factors are regulated via interactions with cofactors. Such interactions influence transcription factor activity either directly through protein–protein interactions or indirectly by altering the local chromatin environment. Using a yeast double-interaction screen, we identified a highly conserved nuclear protein, Akirin, as a novel cofactor of the key Drosophila melanogaster mesoderm and muscle transcription factor Twist. We find that Akirin interacts genetically and physically with Twist to facilitate expression of some, but not all, Twist-regulated genes during embryonic myogenesis. akirin mutant embryos have muscle defects consistent with altered regulation of a subset of Twist-regulated genes. To regulate transcription, Akirin colocalizes and genetically interacts with subunits of the Brahma SWI/SNF-class chromatin remodeling complex. Our results suggest that, mechanistically, Akirin mediates a novel connection between Twist and a chromatin remodeling complex to facilitate changes in the chromatin environment, leading to the optimal expression of some Twist-regulated genes during Drosophila myogenesis. We propose that this Akirin-mediated link between transcription factors and the Brahma complex represents a novel paradigm for providing tissue and target specificity for transcription factor interactions with the chromatin remodeling machinery.

Complex transitions in chromatin structure produce changes in genome function during development in metazoa. Linker histones, the last component of nucleosomes to be assembled into chromatin, comprise considerably divergent subtypes as compared with core histones. In all metazoa studied, their composition changes dramatically during early embryogenesis concomitant with zygotic gene activation, leading to distinct functional changes that are still poorly understood. Here, we show that early embryonic linker histone B4, which is maternally expressed, is functionally different from somatic histone H1 in influencing chromatin structure and dynamics. We developed a chromatin assembly system with nucleosome assembly protein-1 as a linker histone chaperone. This assay system revealed that maternal histone B4 allows chromatin to be remodeled by ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor, whereas somatic histone H1 prevents this remodeling. Structural analysis shows that histone B4 does not significantly restrict the accessibility of linker DNA. These findings define the functional significance of developmental changes in linker histone variants. We propose a model that holds that maternally expressed linker histones are key molecules specifying nuclear dynamics with respect to embryonic totipotency.ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling ͉ linker histone assembly