▷ Chromatin Structure and Function Research Group

Lab presentation

Genomic functions take place in chromatin, not in naked DNA. In recent years, our knowledge about the regulation of chromatin functions has improved thanks to the identification of components and mechanisms that modify its structural and functional properties, such as remodelling complexes, histone modifications (acetylation, methylation…) and the corresponding enzymes, histone variants that localise to specific chromosome locations, structural non-histone proteins that contribute to the functional properties of specific chromatin domains, among others.

Our research focuses on the study of the molecular basis of chromatin function, their regulation during cell cycle and development, and their alteration in human pathologies. More specifically, our work addresses:

(I) the analysis of the contribution of linker histones H1 to the epigenetic regulation of chromatin structure and function

(II) the study of the factor and mechanisms involved in formation and maintenance of the tridimensional (3D) organization of chromatin inside the nucleus

(III) the analysis of the epigenetic factors and mechanism that regulate transcription

(IV) the study of centromeric chromatin and its contribution to chromosome segregation and mitosis progression

Projects

I. Linker histones H1. We study the contribution of linker histones H1 to the epigenetic regulation of chromatin structure and function during development and differentiation, and their role in maintenance of genome stability

II. 3D genome structure. We study the factors and mechanisms involved in maintenance and formation of the tridimensional organization of chromatin inside the nucleus and their role in the regulation of genome functions.

III. Epigenetic regulation of transcription. We study the epigenetic factors and mechanisms that regulate transcription initiation, elongation and termination

IV. Centromere structure and function. We seek to determine the structural and functional properties of centromeric chromatin and its contribution to chromosome segregation and mitosis progression.

Lab people

Ferran Azorín

Research Professor CSIC

Principal investigator

Jordi Bernués

Research Scientist CSIC

Principal investigator

Monica Torras

Research Technician

Albert Carbonell

Postdoctoral Researcher

Past students

Paula Bujosa

PhD Student

Paula Escudero

PhD Student

Marta Puerto

PhD Student

Juan Francisco Pérez

PhD Student

Srividya Tamirisa

Postdoctoral Researcher

Aleix Bayona

PhD Student

Laura Isabel Garcia

Master Student

Johan Tisserand

Postdoctoral Researcher

Maria Saura

PhD Student

Martina Serrat Garcia

Masters Student

Selected publications

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Selected publications in the last 10 years

Puerto M, Shukla M, Bujosa P, Pérez-Roldán J, Torràs-Llort M, Tamirisa S, Carbonell A, Solé C, Puspo JA, Cummings CT, de Nadal E, Posas F, Azorín F*, Rowley MJ*. (2024) The zinc-finger protein Z4 cooperates with condensin II to regulate somatic chromosome pairing and 3D chromatin organization. Nucleic Acids Res. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkae198. Online ahead of print. *Corresponding authors.

Paula Bujosa, Oscar Reina, Adrià Caballé, Anna Casas-Lamesa, Mònica Torras-Llort, Juan Pérez-Roldán, Ana Silvina Nacht, Guillermo P. Vicent, Jordi Bernués, and Fernando Azorín. Linker histone H1 regulates homeostasis of heterochromatin-associated cRNAs. Cell Reports 2024;43(5):114137. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114137

Climent-Cantó, A. Carbonell, S. Tamirisa, L. Henn, I. M. Boros and F. Azorín (2021) “The tumour suppressor brain tumour (Brat) regulates linker histone dBigH1 expression in the Drosophila female germline and the early embryo” Open Biology, 11, 200408. doi: 10.1098/rsob.20.0408

Torras-Llort, S. Medina-Giró, P. Escudero-Ferruz, Z. Lipinszki, O. Moreno-Moreno, Z. Karman, M.R. Przewloka and F. Azorín (2020) “A fraction of barrier-to-autointegration factor (BAF) associates with centromeres and controls mitosis progression” Communications Biology, 3, 454. doi: 10.1038/s42003-020-01182-y

Climent-Cantó, A. Carbonell, M. Tatarski, O. Reina, P. Bujosa, J. Font-Mateu, J. Bernués, M. Beato and F. Azorin (2020) “The embryonic linker histone dBigH1 alters the functional state of active chromatin” Nucleic Acids Research, 48, 4147-4160. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaa122

Moreno-Moreno, M. Torras-Llort and F. Azorín (2019) “The E3-ligases SCF^Ppa and APC/C^Cdh1 co-operate to regulate CENP-A^CID expression across the cell cycle” Nucleic Acids Research, 47, 3395-3406. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz060

Carbonell, S. Pérez-Montero, P. Climent, O. Reina and F. Azorín (2017) “The germilne linker histone dBigH1 and the translational regulator Bam form a repressor loop essential for male germ stem cell differentiation” Cell Reports, 21, 3178-3189. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.11.060

Bayona-Feliu, A. Casas-Lamesa, O. Reina, J. Bernués and F. Azorín (2017) “Linker histone H1 prevents R-loop accumulation and genome instability in heterochromatin”. Nature Communications, 18, 283. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-00338-5

Kessler, J. Tisserand, J. Font-Burgada, O. Reina, L. Coch, C. Stephan-otto Attolini, I. Garcia-Bassets and F. Azorín (2015) “The ubiquitin receptor dDsk2 regulates H2Bub1 and RNA polymerase II pausing at dHP1c complex target genes” Nature Communications. 6:7049. doi: 10.1038/ncomms8049

Font-Burgada, O. Reina, D. Rossell and F. Azorín (2014) “chroGPS, a global chromatin positioning system for the functional analysis and visualization of the epigenome” Nucleic Acids Research, 42, 2126-2137. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkt1186

Pérez-Montero, A. Carbonell, T. Morán, A. Vaquero and F. Azorín (2013) “The embryonic linker histone H1 variant of Drosophila, dBigH1, regulates zygotic genome activation” Developmental Cell, 26, 578-590. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.08.011

Lloret-Llinares, S. Pérez-Lluch, D. Rossell, T. Morán, J. Ponsa-Cobas, H. Auer, M. Corominas and F. Azorín (2012) “dKDM5/LID regulates H3K4me3 dynamics at the transcription-start site (TSS) of actively transcribed developmental genes” Nucleic Acids Research, 40, 9493-9505. doi: 10.1093/nar/gks773

Bonet-Costa C, Vilaseca M, Diema C, Vujatovic O, Vaquero A, Omeñaca N, Castejón L, Bernués J, Giralt E, Azorín F. (2012) “Combined bottom-up and top-down mass spectrometry analyses of the pattern of post-translational modifications of Drosophila melanogaster linker histone H1” Journal of Proteomics, 75, 4124-4138. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2012.05.034

Vujatovic, K. Zaragoza, A. Vaquero, O. Reina, J. Bernués and F. Azorín (2012) “Drosophila melanogaster linker histone dH1 is required for transposon silencing and to preserve genome integrity” Nucleic Acids Research, 40, 5402-5414. doi: 10.1093/nar/gks224

View all publications

All publications

More than 100 publications.

For a full list of publications go to: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=azorin+f&sort=date&size=50

View selected publications

Project funding

Título: Regulación epigenética de la estructura y función de la cromatina: organización 3D de la cromatina y histonas h1

Referencia: PID2021-123303NB-I00 Entidad financiadora: MCIN.

Fecha de inicio: 01/09/2022. Duración: 4 años. Cuantía de la subvención: 338.800€