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Updated: Sep 23, 2025

Detection of Histone Modifications in Plant Leaves
Published on: September 23, 2011
Histone renegades: Unusual H2A histone variants in plants and animals
Akihisa Osakabe1, Antoine Molaro2
1Laboratory of Genetics, Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan; Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO), Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Saitama 332-0012, Japan.
Abstract:
H2A variants are histones that carry out specialized nucleosome function during the eukaryote genome packaging. Most genes encoding H2A histone variants arose in the distant past, and have highly conserved domains and structures. Yet, novel H2A variants have continued to arise throughout the radiation of eukaryotes and disturbed the apparent tranquility of nucleosomes. These species-specific H2A variants contributed to the functional diversification of nucleosomes through changes in both their structure and expression patterns. In this short review, we discuss the evolutionary trajectories of these histone renegades in plants and animal genomes.
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