Back

Histone H1 Promotes Silencing of Unintegrated HIV-1 DNA

Zhu, J.; Wang, G. Z.; Pinto, H. D.; Hilton, S. E.; Mishra, L. N.; Skoultchi, A. I.; Goff, S. P.

2026-01-29 microbiology
10.1101/2025.11.07.687224 bioRxiv
Show abstract

In eukaryotic cells, genomic DNA is packaged into chromatin with nucleosomes formed by core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4, and further stabilized by the linker histone H1. During the early stages of retroviral infection, such as with murine leukemia virus (MLV) and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), host core and H1 histones are rapidly deposited onto unintegrated viral DNAs upon nuclear entry. These unintegrated viral DNAs are transcriptionally silenced through histone post-translational modifications (PTMs), including high levels of H3K9 trimethylation and low levels of H3 acetylation. Linker histone H1 is closely associated with chromatin compaction and histone PTMs, suggesting a potential role in regulating retroviral DNA fate. In this study, we demonstrate that simultaneous knockdown of four somatic H1 variants (H1.2, H1.3, H1.4, and H1.5) in K562 cells reverses the silencing of unintegrated HIV-1 DNA, resulting in increased viral expression. Notably, this effect was specific to HIV-1, as the same H1 depletion did not alter the silencing of MLV unintegrated DNA. These results reveal distinct roles of H1 in regulating HIV-1 and MLV unintegrated DNA expression.

Matching journals

The top 9 journals account for 50% of the predicted probability mass.

1
PLOS Pathogens
721 papers in training set
Top 1%
10.4%
2
Journal of Virology
456 papers in training set
Top 0.6%
10.0%
3
eLife
5422 papers in training set
Top 11%
6.8%
4
Nucleic Acids Research
1128 papers in training set
Top 3%
6.3%
5
mBio
750 papers in training set
Top 4%
4.3%
6
Cell Reports
1338 papers in training set
Top 12%
4.1%
7
Journal of Molecular Cell Biology
21 papers in training set
Top 0.1%
3.6%
8
iScience
1063 papers in training set
Top 5%
3.6%
9
Viruses
318 papers in training set
Top 2%
3.6%
50% of probability mass above
10
Journal of Molecular Biology
217 papers in training set
Top 0.8%
2.9%
11
Nature Communications
4913 papers in training set
Top 44%
2.7%
12
PLOS Genetics
756 papers in training set
Top 6%
2.4%
13
Protein & Cell
25 papers in training set
Top 0.9%
2.3%
14
PLOS Biology
408 papers in training set
Top 6%
2.3%
15
Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics
171 papers in training set
Top 3%
2.1%
16
Cell Discovery
54 papers in training set
Top 2%
2.1%
17
Journal of Biological Chemistry
641 papers in training set
Top 1%
1.9%
18
PLOS ONE
4510 papers in training set
Top 54%
1.7%
19
Scientific Reports
3102 papers in training set
Top 64%
1.3%
20
Cellular & Molecular Immunology
14 papers in training set
Top 1%
1.2%
21
Frontiers in Microbiology
375 papers in training set
Top 7%
0.9%
22
Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal
216 papers in training set
Top 7%
0.9%
23
Journal of Proteome Research
215 papers in training set
Top 2%
0.9%
24
Epigenetics & Chromatin
42 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
0.9%
25
Advanced Science
249 papers in training set
Top 16%
0.9%
26
Genes to Cells
23 papers in training set
Top 0.3%
0.8%
27
Gene
41 papers in training set
Top 2%
0.7%
28
Science Advances
1098 papers in training set
Top 30%
0.7%
29
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
453 papers in training set
Top 17%
0.7%
30
Cell & Bioscience
14 papers in training set
Top 0.2%
0.7%