A novel role for Nhp6 proteins in histone gene regulation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

•Nhp6 proteins negatively regulate histone genes transcription.•Nhp6 proteins stabilize TSS surrounding nucleosomes.•The absence of Nhp6 proteins leads to reduction of histone translation.•Nhp6 repress histone transcription by stabilizing +1 nucleosomes and act as their regulators.

Maintaining a stable and balanced histone pool is of paramount importance for genome stability and fine regulation of DNA replication and transcription. This involves a complex regulatory machinery, exploiting transcription factors as well as histone chaperones, chromatin remodelers and modifiers. The functional details of this machinery are as yet unclear. Previous studies report histone decrease in mammalian and yeast HMGB family mutants. In this study we find that Nhp6 proteins, the S. cerevisiae HMGB1 homologues, control histone gene expression by affecting nucleosome stability at regulative regions of the histone clusters. In addition, we observe that histone gene overexpression in the nhp6ab mutant is accompanied by downregulated translation, which in turn is responsible for the histone decrease phenotype. Our observations allow us to incorporate Nhp6 proteins into the large group of chromatin factors that tightly regulate histone gene expression.

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