Brain phosphorylation of MeCP2 at serine 164 is developmentally regulated and globally alters its chromatin association.

ABSTRACT: MeCP2 is a transcriptional regulator whose functional alterations are responsible for several autism spectrum and mental disorders. Post-translational modifications (PTMs), and particularly differential phosphorylation, modulate MeCP2 function in response to diverse stimuli. Understanding the detailed role of MeCP2 phosphorylation is thus instrumental to ascertain how MeCP2 integrates the environmental signals and directs its adaptive transcriptional responses. The evolutionarily conserved serine 164 (S164) was found phosphorylated in rodent brain but its functional role has remained uncharacterized. We show here that phosphorylation of S164 in brain is dynamically regulated during neuronal maturation. S164 phosphorylation highly impairs MeCP2 binding to DNA in vitro and largely affects it

SUBMITTER: Stefanelli G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4915018 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature