{"doi":"10.1101/2020.10.09.331900","title":"HP1α is a chromatin crosslinker that controls nuclear and mitotic chromosome mechanics","abstract":"Abstract Chromatin, which consists of DNA and associated proteins, contains genetic information and is a mechanical component of the nucleus. Heterochromatic histone methylation controls nucleus and chromosome stiffness, but the contribution of heterochromatin protein HP1α (CBX5) is unknown. We used a novel HP1α auxin-inducible degron human cell line to rapidly degrade HP1α. Degradation did not alter transcription, local chromatin compaction, or histone methylation, but did decrease chromatin stiffness. Single-nucleus micromanipulation reveals that HP1α is essential to chromatin-based mechanics and maintains nuclear morphology, separate from histone methylation. Further experiments with dimerization-deficient HP1α I165E indicate that chromatin crosslinking via HP1α dimerization is critical, while polymer simulations demonstrate the importance of chromatin-chromatin crosslinkers in mechanics. In mitotic chromosomes, HP1α similarly bolsters stiffness while aiding in mitotic alignment and faithful segregation. HP1α is therefore a critical chromatin-crosslinking protein that provides mechanical strength to chromosomes and the nucleus throughout the cell cycle and supports cellular functions.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2020,"id":120765,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":9,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9583,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":413964,"name":"Ronald Biggs","orcid":"0000-0002-9965-6346","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":250608,"name":"Edward J. Banigan","orcid":"0000-0001-5478-7425","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":56258,"name":"Xiaotao Wang","orcid":"0000-0002-3531-2157","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559833,"name":"Katherine Chiu","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559834,"name":"Cameron Herman","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559835,"name":"Jimena Collado","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":43220,"name":"Feng Yue","orcid":"0000-0002-7954-5462","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":558930,"name":"Joan C. Ritland Politz","orcid":"0000-0001-5229-0087","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559836,"name":"Leah J. Tait","orcid":null,"position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559837,"name":"David Scalzo","orcid":null,"position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":559838,"name":"Agnes Telling","orcid":null,"position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":43253,"name":"Mark Groudine","orcid":"0000-0002-1116-2588","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":44859,"name":"Clifford P. Brangwynne","orcid":"0000-0002-1350-9960","position":13,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":254911,"name":"John F. Marko","orcid":"0000-0003-4151-9530","position":14,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":344097,"name":"Andrew D. Stephens","orcid":"0000-0001-5474-7845","position":15,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":108002,"name":"Amy R. Strom","orcid":"0000-0002-1674-3242","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":99,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:14:38.147936Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}