ArticleNature2017
Liquid droplet formation by HP1α suggests a role for phase separation in heterochromatin.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1,023 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1,023 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 1,774 citations in OpenAlex.
- Macromolecular Crowding in Cytoplasm and Cellular Organelles.Sub-cellular biochemistry · 2025Pooled it
- How do low-complexity domain interactions control transcription?Biochemical Society transactions · 2026Review
- Multiscale physical effects of CpG methylation on DNA mechanics, nucleosome wrapping, and chromatin condensates.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Influence of Histone Acetylation on Chromatin 3D Organization inInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Designed IDPs phase separate and mix or demix according to sequence designed parameters.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- 3D Genome Engineering Using CRISPR/dCas Systems.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Ki-67 regulates heterochromatin organization in neurons and forms condensates with heterochromatic components.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Cross-Scale Convergence in Epigenetic Gene Regulation: A Perspective on Functional Enrichment Analytics for Cancer.Current issues in molecular biology · 2026Article
- Biomolecular Condensates Integrate Transcriptional and Epigenetic Responses to Hypoxia.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Beyond the structure-function paradigm: A comprehensive review of intrinsically disordered proteins.Biochemistry and biophysics reports · 2026Review
- Lipid-Mediated DNA-Protein Coupling Reinforces the Mechanics of HP1α-DNA Condensates.Small science · 2026Article
- BRD4 recruitment into HP1 condensates desilences transcription without erasure of repressive chromatin.Nature cell biology · 2026Article
- Transcription and Three-Dimensional Genome Organization: Cause, Consequence, or Coordination?BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Epigenetics in development, disease, and therapy: from mechanisms to clinical interventions.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- Outside-in progression of heterochromatin replication and exclusion of CDC45 from the PCH domain inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Mixing chromatin fibers with different nucleosome repeat lengths changes dynamics of chromatin phase separation.The Journal of biological chemistry · 2026Article
- The TPR2 corepressor forms condensates with repressors to fine-tune growth and development in rice.The EMBO journal · 2026Article
- Supramolecular nanofiber stabilization of microdroplets enables ultra-sensitive virus infection analysis.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The future of pediatric gene therapy: CRISPR-Cas9, AI, and personalized medicine.Pediatric research · 2026Review
- The novel HP1a interactor Clump/CG30403 safeguards transposon silencing and reproductive resilience in thebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
963 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Gene silencing by heterochromatin is proposed to occur in part as a result of the ability of heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) proteins to spread across large regions of the genome, compact the underlying chromatin and recruit diverse ligands. Here we identify a new property of the human HP1α protein: the ability to form phase-separated droplets. While unmodified HP1α is soluble, either phosphorylation of its N-terminal extension or DNA binding promotes the formation of phase-separated droplets. Phosphorylation-driven phase separation can be promoted or reversed by specific HP1α ligands. Known components of heterochromatin such as nucleosomes and DNA preferentially partition into the HP1α droplets, but molecules such as the transcription factor TFIIB show no preference. Using a single-molecule DNA curtain assay, we find that both unmodified and phosphorylated HP1α induce rapid compaction of DNA strands into puncta, although with different characteristics. We show by direct protein delivery into mammalian cells that an HP1α mutant incapable of phase separation in vitro forms smaller and fewer nuclear puncta than phosphorylated HP1α. These findings suggest that heterochromatin-mediated gene silencing may occur in part through sequestration of compacted chromatin in phase-separated HP1 droplets, which are dissolved or formed by specific ligands on the basis of nuclear context.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.