InterPro domain: IPR035425

Histone H4 is one of the five histones, along with H1/H5, H2A, H2B and H3. Two copies of each of the H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 histones ensemble to form the core of the nucleosome [ 1 ]. The nucleosome forms octameric structure that wraps DNA in a left-handed manner. H3 is a highly conserved protein of 135 amino acid residues [ 2 , 3 ]. Histones can undergo several different types of post-translational modifications that affect transcription, DNA repair, DNA replication and chromosomal stability. The sequence of histone H4 has remained almost invariant in more then 2 billion years of evolution [ 4 , 4 , 5 ].

This domain is the C-terminal histone fold domain of CENP-T, which associates with chromatin [ 6 , 7 ]. Proteins containing this domain also include Histone H4.

CENP-T is a family of vertebral kinetochore proteins that associates directly with CENP-W. The N terminus of CENP-T proteins interacts directly with the Ndc80 complex in the outer kinetochore. Importantly, the CENP-T-W complex does not directly associate with CENP-A, but with histone H3 in the centromere region. CENP-T and -W form a hetero-tetramer with CENP-S and -X and bind to a ~100 bp region of nucleosome-free DNA forming a nucleosome-like structure. The DNA-CENP-T-W-S-X complex is likely to be associated with histone H3-containing nucleosomes rather than with CENP-nucleosomes [ 8 , 9 , 9 ].

1. Recognition and classification of histones using support vector machine. J. Comput. Biol. 13, 102-12
2. Phylogenetic analysis of the core histones H2A, H2B, H3, and H4. Nucleic Acids Res. 22, 174-9
3. Histone and histone gene compilation and alignment update. Nucleic Acids Res. 19 Suppl, 2173-88
4. Acetylation of histones in nucleosomes. Mol. Cell. Biochem. 44, 113-28
5. A highly basic histone H4 domain bound to the sharply bent region of nucleosomal DNA. Nature 331, 365-7
6. Spindle microtubules generate tension-dependent changes in the distribution of inner kinetochore proteins. J. Cell Biol. 193, 125-40
7. CENP-T-W-S-X forms a unique centromeric chromatin structure with a histone-like fold. Cell 148, 487-501
8. Molecular architecture of vertebrate kinetochores. Exp. Cell Res. 318, 1367-74