This EMBO Workshop features histone variants, which are part of an interconnected "epigenetic" network including DNA methylation, posttranslational histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, regulatory RNAs and nuclear organization. Worldwide research on histone variants over the last years has revealed their important function in gene regulation, cell cycle progression, DNA damage repair, genome stability, cell differentiation and organism development. Additionally, recent studies have highlighted the role of mutations or deregulation of expression of histone variants and their binding partners in diverse diseases, most notably cancer.

This EMBO Workshop will provide a comprehensive representation of all of these histone variant-related processes, with a balanced portrayal of different model organisms, including rare variants in parasites and evolutionary aspects, as well as presentations of the different variant families, such as linker histone variants. Specialists of variant deposition mechanisms, chromatin structure and interaction networks, will meet with biochemists focusing on chemical modifications, as well as developmental biologists, bioinformaticians and physiologists to share common interest in histone variants in parasites, yeast, insects, plants and mammals.