Chromatin structure and dynamics: functional implications

In eucaryotes, DNA packaging into nucleosomes and its organization in a chromatin fiber generate constraints for all processes involving DNA, such as DNA-replication, -repair, -recombination, and -transcription. Transient changes in chromatin structure allow overcoming these constraints with different requirements in regions where processes described above are initiated. Mechanisms involved in chromatin dynamics are complex. Multiprotein complexes which can contain histone-acetyltransferase, -deacetylase, -methyltransferase or -kinase activities are targeted by regulatory factors to precise regions of the genome. These enzymes have been shown to modify histone-tails within specific nucleosomes. Post-translational modifications of histone-tails constitute a code that is thought to contribute to the nucleosome or to the chromatin fiber remodeling, either directly, or through the recruitment of other proteins. Other multiprotein complexes, such as ATP-dependent remodeling complexes, play an essential role in chromatin fiber dynamics allowing nucleosome sliding and redistribution on the DNA. We will focus here on the chromatin structure and its consequences for DNA damaging, replication, repair, and transcription and we will discuss the mechanisms of chromatin remodeling.