Increase in histone acetylation and transitions in histone variants during Friend cell differentiation

Histone acetylation of Murine Erythroleukemia Cells (MELC) has been re-examined. It is demonstrated that sodium butyrate causes hyperacetylation of core histones in inducible as well as non-inducible MELC strains. This indicates that histone hyperacetylation per se is not sufficient to activate genes. However, [3H]acetate incorporation into core histones of the inducible MELC line F4N increases after induction of differentiation with dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), in contrast to the non-inducible variant F4+. Thus histone acetylation may play a role as an auxiliary mechanism for gene activation (and inactivation). In addition, the appearance of a histone H3 variant during differentiation of MELC is reported.