Modulation of Heterochromatin Protein 1 Dynamics in Primary Mammalian Cells

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Abstract
Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1β), a key component of condensed DNA, is strongly implicated in gene silencing and centromeric cohesion. Heterochromatin has been considered a static structure, stabilizing crucial aspects of nuclear organization and prohibiting access to transcription factors. We demonstrate here, by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching, that a green fluorescent protein–HP1β fusion protein is highly mobile within both the euchromatin and heterochromatin of ex vivo resting murine T cells. Moreover, T cell activation greatly increased this mobility, indicating that such a process may facilitate (hetero)chromatin remodeling and permit access of epigenetic modifiers and transcription factors to the many genes that are consequently derepressed.