Investigating transcription and the histone methylation landscape in quiescent cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract

Eukaryotic genomes are organised as the DNA-protein complex, chromatin within the cell nucleus. The fundamental subunit of chromatin is the nucleosome, which comprises 146 base pairs of DNA wrapped around an octamer of histone proteins. This structure is generally repressive to any process that requires access to the DNA. However, chromatin can undergo changes in its structure that can alter its function, including the addition of numerous histone post- translational modifications (PTMs) to the histone proteins. The best- characterised histone PTMs include acetylation, methylation, and ubiquitylation. These PTMs and the complexes involved in their addition and removal are highly conserved in eukaryotes, from yeast to mammals. The role of many of these PTMs in cellular processes including transcription, replication and DNA damage repair, have been studied in detail in actively growing cells.