Back

Linker histone H1 functions as a liquid-like glue to organize chromatin in living human cells

Shimazoe, M. A.; Phillips, C.; Huertas, J.; Ide, S.; Tamura, S.; Farr, S.; Ashwin, S. S.; Sasai, M.; Collepardo-Guevara, R.; Maeshima, K.

2025-03-06 cell biology
10.1101/2025.03.05.641622 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Linker histone H1, the most abundant chromatin protein, condenses chromatin, modulates DNA transactions such as transcription and DNA replication/repair, and participates in differentiation, development and tumorigenesis. While recent studies indicate that nucleosomes are clustered as condensed chromatin domains in higher eukaryotic cells, how histone H1 mechanically condenses chromatin remains unclear. Here, using a combination of direct visualization of single-H1 molecules in living human cells and multiscale molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that the majority of H1 behaves like a liquid inside chromatin domains, rather than binding stably to nucleosomes as suggested by the traditional model. H1 functions as a liquid-like "glue", mediating dynamic multivalent electrostatic interactions between nucleosomes within chromatin domains. Consistently, rapid-depletion of H1.2 leads to decondensed chromatin domains both in cells and in silico. Our findings suggest that the H1 "glue" condenses chromatin domains while keeping them fluid and accessible, thereby supporting essential DNA transactions.

Published in Science Advances (predicted rank #1) · training set

Matching journals

The top 3 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

Science Advances · published here
● 1243 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
26.6%
Similar papers in this journal
2
Nucleic Acids Research
◐ 1281 papers in training set
Top 0.7%
18.5%
Similar papers in this journal
3
Nature Communications
○ 5641 papers in training set
Top 15%
11.9%
Similar papers in this journal
50% of probability mass above
4
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
● 2444 papers in training set
Top 4%
7.9%
Similar papers in this journal
5
eLife
● 5828 papers in training set
Top 22%
5.5%
Similar papers in this journal
6
Molecular Cell
○ 350 papers in training set
Top 2%
2.4%
7
Science
● 477 papers in training set
Top 4%
2.4%
8
Nature Cell Biology
○ 118 papers in training set
Top 1%
2.1%
9
Biophysical Journal
○ 631 papers in training set
Top 3%
2.1%
10
Cell Reports
○ 1498 papers in training set
Top 18%
1.7%
11
Advanced Science
○ 286 papers in training set
Top 5%
1.5%
12
Nature Methods
○ 385 papers in training set
Top 5%
1.1%
13
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
236 papers in training set
Top 3%
1.1%
14
The EMBO Journal
○ 309 papers in training set
Top 5%
1.0%
15
Journal of Cell Biology
● 392 papers in training set
Top 3%
1.0%
16
Communications Biology
○ 993 papers in training set
Top 30%
0.8%
17
Genome Biology
○ 637 papers in training set
Top 9%
0.8%
18
PNAS Nexus
◐ 159 papers in training set
Top 4%
0.8%
19
Cell
○ 431 papers in training set
Top 11%
0.6%
20
Journal of Biological Chemistry
○ 690 papers in training set
Top 10%
0.6%
21
Nature
○ 645 papers in training set
Top 11%
0.6%
22
iScience
○ 1154 papers in training set
Top 41%
0.6%

"Similar papers" are the closest papers from that journal in the model's embedding space. They show what the match is built on, but the ranking comes mostly from a classifier over the whole training set, not from these examples alone.