"One of the major goals of post-genomic biological research is to understand the molecular basis and physiological role of covalent protein modifications. Post-transcriptional modifications can regulate protein interactions and/or stability and thus trigger particular downstream responses. A major challenge is to understand how modifications of histone proteins are translated into changes in gene expression and chromatin structure and how they regulate genome function. However, the significance of studying protein modifications extends beyond the field of chromatin research, because changes in the modification pattern are likely to affect many -if not all- biological processes. This proposal is designed to study and functionally characterise modifications of histones. The goals of this proposal are: A) Determining the role of linker H1 modifications and variants in epigenetic regulation of gene expression. This will enable us to expand the ""histone"" code to the next higher level of chromatin organisation. B) To identify yet uncharacterised sites or new types of histone modifications. This will be the basis for determining the biological function of these modifications. Altogether this will lead us to decipher the role of covalent protein modifications in regulation of gene expression and how they are linked into biological networks . These projects will significantly expand the scope of my ongoing research and will only be possible with additional funding, which will allow me to establish cutting edge technology, additional in vivo model systems and new interdisciplinary collaborations."