Replication-independent eviction of the histone variant H2B.8 reveals chromatin reprogramming during seed imbibition
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.
Authors
- Aline V. Probst (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9534-8058)
- Sylviane Cotterell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9665-5009)
- Stefania Paltrinieri
- Simon Amiard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0427-1647)
- David Latrasse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2149-0128)
- Christophe Tatout (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5215-2338)
- Manon Verdier
- Moussa Benhamed (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2716-748X)
- Lauriane Simon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7285-9437)
- Sophie Desset (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4897-4977)
- Kentaro Tamura (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7387-2211)
- Gilles Sireta
- Qingyi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3013-5267)
- Samuel Le Goff
- Aude Maugarny
- Christophe Bailly
Institutions
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Shizuoka (JP)
- Inserm (FR)
- Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (FR)
- Institut Universitaire de France (FR)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Sorbonne Université (FR)
- Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR)
- Institut des Sciences des Plantes de Paris Saclay (FR)
- University of Clermont Auvergne (FR)
- Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine (FR)
- Clermont Université (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-06-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74230-6
- Primary Topic
- Plant Molecular Biology Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche
- Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
- Université Clermont-Auvergne
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science