Replication-independent eviction of the histone variant H2B.8 reveals chromatin reprogramming during seed imbibition
Abstract
The transition from seed to seedling involves major changes in nuclear organization and gene expression, yet the extent to which this developmental transition requires chromatin reprogramming remains largely unexplored. Here, we report that Arabidopsis dry seed embryos accumulate the histone variant H2B.8, which contributes to higher-order chromatin organization by forming spatial clusters that structure the 3D nuclear space. H2B.8 predominantly assembles into heterotypic nucleosomes, is enriched at euchromatic transposons and lowly expressed genes and, during imbibition, modulates the transcriptional activation of a subset of these genes. Water uptake triggers a decrease in H2B.8 transcripts and the eviction of the H2B.8 variant from chromatin, in a process that operates independently of DNA replication but requires de novo transcription. Histone eviction is not restricted to H2B.8, as imbibition also induces turnover of the H3.3 histone variant and therefore initiates a replication-independent chromatin reprogramming process. These findings highlight a fundamental mechanism of epigenetic regulation during early plant development.
Related
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BibTeX
@article{simon2026replicationindependent,
title = {{Replication-independent eviction of the histone variant H2B.8 reveals chromatin reprogramming during seed imbibition}},
author = {Lauriane Simon and Stefania Paltrinieri and Manon Verdier and Qingyi Wang and Sylviane Cotterell and David Latrasse and Aude Maugarny and Gilles Sireta and Sophie Desset and Simon Amiard and Christophe Bailly and Kentaro Tamura and Moussa Benhamed and Christophe Tatout and Samuel Le Goff and Aline Probst},
journal = {Nature Communications},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-74230-6},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05763466v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Replication-independent eviction of the histone variant H2B.8 reveals chromatin reprogramming during seed imbibition
AU - Lauriane Simon
AU - Stefania Paltrinieri
AU - Manon Verdier
AU - Qingyi Wang
AU - Sylviane Cotterell
AU - David Latrasse
AU - Aude Maugarny
AU - Gilles Sireta
AU - Sophie Desset
AU - Simon Amiard
AU - Christophe Bailly
AU - Kentaro Tamura
AU - Moussa Benhamed
AU - Christophe Tatout
AU - Samuel Le Goff
AU - Aline Probst
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/29
JO - Nature Communications
DO - 10.1038/s41467-026-74230-6
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05763466v1
AB - The transition from seed to seedling involves major changes in nuclear organization and gene expression, yet the extent to which this developmental transition requires chromatin reprogramming remains largely unexplored. Here, we report that Arabidopsis dry seed embryos accumulate the histone variant H2B.8, which contributes to higher-order chromatin organization by forming spatial clusters that structure the 3D nuclear space. H2B.8 predominantly assembles into heterotypic nucleosomes, is enriched at euchromatic transposons and lowly expressed genes and, during imbibition, modulates the transcriptional activation of a subset of these genes. Water uptake triggers a decrease in H2B.8 transcripts and the eviction of the H2B.8 variant from chromatin, in a process that operates independently of DNA replication but requires de novo transcription. Histone eviction is not restricted to H2B.8, as imbibition also induces turnover of the H3.3 histone variant and therefore initiates a replication-independent chromatin reprogramming process. These findings highlight a fundamental mechanism of epigenetic regulation during early plant development.
SN - 2041-1723
SN - 2041-1723
ER -