Investigating the Influence of CHD1 on Newly Deposited Histones in Drosophila Melanogaster

Chromatin remodelers such as CHD1 (chromodomain, helicase/ATPase, DNA-binding domain) regulates histone dynamics and allows for higher order of chromatin compaction.CHD1 has been found to be important in fertility, wing development, and it colocalizes with elongating RNA polymerase II in Drosophila melanogaster. CHD1 is also important in embryonic stem cell pluripotency in mice and chd1 is the second most deleted gene in prostate cancer in humans. Furthermore, CHD1 suppresses the level of H3 dimethylated on lysine 9 (H3K9me2) and heterochromatin protein 1a (HP1a) to antagonize repressive chromatin. To complement these studies, I am seeking to determine the possible role of CHD1 on H3K9me2 and H3K56ac. Influence of CHD1 on histone dynamics is examined by using native chromatin immunoprecipitation at CrebA. We observed that H3K9me2 levels do not significantly increase over a single active gene in Drosophila salivary glands with the loss of CHD1, which implies CHD1’s effect might be only limited to heterochromatic regions. Additionally, I have preliminary evidence that the loss of CHD1 leads to an increase in the level of H3 acetylated on lysine 56, a mark of newly deposited histones. This evidence together with yeast studies provides a model for how CHD1 regulates nucleosome turnover