Abstract
BACKGROUND: Histone chaperones modulate chromatin architecture and hence play a pivotal role in epigenetic regulation of gene expression. In contrast to their animal and yeast counterparts, not much is known about plant histone chaperones. To gain insights into their functions in plants, we sought to identify histone chaperones from two model plant species and investigated their phylogeny, domain architecture and transcriptional profiles to establish correlation between their expression patterns and potential role in stress physiology and plant development. RESULTS: Through comprehensive whole genome analyses of Arabidopsis and rice, we identified twenty-two and twenty-five genes encoding histone chaperones in these plants, respectively. These could be classified into seven different families, namely NAP, CAF1, SPT6, ASF1, HIRA, NASP, and FACT. Phylogenetic analyses of histone chaperones from diverse organisms including representative species from each of the major plant groups, yeast and human indicated functional divergence in NAP and CAF1C in plants. For the largest histone chaperone family, NAP, phylogenetic reconstruction suggested the presence of two distinct groups in plants, possibly with differing histone preferences. Further, to comment upon their physiological roles in plants, we analyzed their expression at different developmental stages, across various plant tissues, and under biotic and abiotic stress conditions using pre-existing microarray and qRT-PCR. We found tight transcriptional regulation of some histone chaperone genes during development in both Arabidopsis and rice, suggesting that they may play a role in genetic reprogramming associated with the developmental process. Besides, we found significant differential expression of a few histone chaperones under various biotic and abiotic stresses pointing towards their potential function in stress response. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings shed light onto the possible evolutionary trajectory of plant histone chaperones and present novel prospects about their physiological roles. Considering that the developmental process and stress response require altered expression of a large array of genes, our results suggest that some plant histone chaperones may serve a regulatory role by controlling the expression of genes associated with these vital processes, possibly via modulating chromatin dynamics at the corresponding genetic loci.