Histone H2A.Z and DNA methylation are mutually antagonistic chromatin marks
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ABSTRACT: Eukaryotic chromatin is separated into functional domains differentiated by posttranslational histone modifications, histone variants, and DNA methylation. Methylation is associated with repression of transcriptional initiation in plants and animals, and is frequently found in transposable elements. Proper methylation patterns are critical for eukaryotic development, and aberrant methylation-induced silencing of tumor suppressor genes is a common feature of human cancer. In contrast to methylation, the histone variant H2A.Z is preferentially deposited by the Swr1 ATPase complex near 5' ends of genes where it promotes transcriptional competence. How DNA methylation and H2A.Z influence transcription remains largely unknown. Here we show that in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, regions of DNA methylation are quantitatively deficient in H2A.Z. Exclusion of H2A.Z is seen at sites of DNA methylation in the bodies of actively transcribed genes and in methylated transposons. Mutation of the MET1 DNA methyltransferase, which causes both losses and gains of DNA methylation, engenders opposite changes in H2A.Z deposition, while mutation of the PIE1 subunit of the Swr1 complex that deposits H2A.Z17 leads to genome-wide hypermethylation. Our findings indicate that DNA methylation can influence chromatin structure and effect gene silencing by excluding H2A.Z, and that H2A.Z protects genes from DNA methylation. Keywords: Affinity-purification on microarray
Project description:Eukaryotic chromatin is separated into functional domains differentiated by posttranslational histone modifications, histone variants, and DNA methylation. Methylation is associated with repression of transcriptional initiation in plants and animals, and is frequently found in transposable elements. Proper methylation patterns are critical for eukaryotic development, and aberrant methylation-induced silencing of tumor suppressor genes is a common feature of human cancer. In contrast to methylation, the histone variant H2A.Z is preferentially deposited by the Swr1 ATPase complex near 5' ends of genes where it promotes transcriptional competence. How DNA methylation and H2A.Z influence transcription remains largely unknown. Here we show that in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, regions of DNA methylation are quantitatively deficient in H2A.Z. Exclusion of H2A.Z is seen at sites of DNA methylation in the bodies of actively transcribed genes and in methylated transposons. Mutation of the MET1 DNA methyltransferase, which causes both losses and gains of DNA methylation, engenders opposite changes in H2A.Z deposition, while mutation of the PIE1 subunit of the Swr1 complex that deposits H2A.Z17 leads to genome-wide hypermethylation. Our findings indicate that DNA methylation can influence chromatin structure and effect gene silencing by excluding H2A.Z, and that H2A.Z protects genes from DNA methylation. Keywords: Affinity-purification on microarray All experiments were done using two channels per chip. DNA methylation experiments compared immunoprecipitated, methylated DNA to control genomic DNA. H2A.Z experiments compared whole micrococcal nuclease-treated affinity-purified chromatin to input chromatin used for affinity purification. Affinity purification was performed using either biotin-tagged H2A.Z, pulled down using streptavidin, or endogenous H2A.Z pulled down using an anti-H2A.Z antibody.
Project description:The eukaryotic genome is divided into regions of heterochromatin and euchromatin. The histone variant H2A.Z specifically localizes at euchromatin and displays a genome-wide anti-correlation with DNA methylation. DNA methylation plays a central role in the epigenetic regulation of many eukaryotic genomes. Active DNA demethylation is critical for controlling the epigenome in plants and mammals. Yet, little is known about how DNA demethylases are recruited to target loci. Here we report that SWR1, a conserved histone H2A.Z deposition complex, regulates DNA demethylation in Arabidopsis thaliana by recruiting the plant DNA demethylase ROS1. A forward genetic screen for anti-silencing mutants identified two SWR1 components, PIE1 and ARP6, as cellular factors required for ROS1-mediated DNA demethylation. We further discovered two bromodomain-containing proteins, the methyl-DNA-binding protein AtMBD9, and NPX1, a plant homolog of ScBDF1 in yeast, as components of the SWR1 complex in Arabidopsis. AtMBD9 and NPX1 function redundantly in preventing DNA hypermethylation and transcriptional gene silencing by recognizing histone acetylation marks established by IDM1, a known regulator of DNA demethylation. We show that IDM1 is required for H2A.Z deposition in many genomic regions targeted for active DNA demethylation. We found that H2A.Z interacts with ROS1 and is required for locus-specific DNA demethylation and antisilencing. Our results reveal a role of H2A.Z in active DNA demethylation, and a mechanism through which DNA demethylases can be recruited to target regions by specific histone acetylation marks.
Project description:The histone variant H2A.Z is a genome-wide signature of nucleosomes proximal to eukaryotic regulatory DNA. While the multi-subunit SWR1 chromatin remodeling complex is known to catalyze ATP-dependent deposition of H2A.Z, the mechanism of recruitment to S. cerevisiae promoters has been unclear. A sensitive assay for competitive binding of di-nucleosome substrates revealed that SWR1 preferentially binds long nucleosome-free DNA adjoining core particles, allowing discrimination of gene promoters over gene bodies. We traced the critical DNA binding component of SWR1 to the conserved Swc2/YL1 subunit, whose activity is required for both SWR1 binding and H2A.Z incorporation in vivo. Histone acetylation by NuA4 enhances SWR1 binding, but the interaction with nucleosome-free DNA is the major determinant. ‘Hierarchical cooperation’ between high affinity DNA- and low affinity histone modification-binding factors may reconcile the large disparity in affinities for chromatin substrates, and unify classical control by DNA-binding factors with post-translational histone modifications and ATP-dependent nucleosome mobility. Swr1 TAP IF of various mutants
Project description:The histone variant H2A.Z is a genome-wide signature of nucleosomes proximal to eukaryotic regulatory DNA. While the multi-subunit SWR1 chromatin remodeling complex is known to catalyze ATP-dependent deposition of H2A.Z, the mechanism of recruitment to S. cerevisiae promoters has been unclear. A sensitive assay for competitive binding of di-nucleosome substrates revealed that SWR1 preferentially binds long nucleosome-free DNA adjoining core particles, allowing discrimination of gene promoters over gene bodies. We traced the critical DNA binding component of SWR1 to the conserved Swc2/YL1 subunit, whose activity is required for both SWR1 binding and H2A.Z incorporation in vivo. Histone acetylation by NuA4 enhances SWR1 binding, but the interaction with nucleosome-free DNA is the major determinant. ‘Hierarchical cooperation’ between high affinity DNA- and low affinity histone modification-binding factors may reconcile the large disparity in affinities for chromatin substrates, and unify classical control by DNA-binding factors with post-translational histone modifications and ATP-dependent nucleosome mobility.
Project description:Histone variant H2A.Z-containing nucleosomes are incorporated at most eukaryotic promoters. This incorporation is mediated by the conserved SWR1 complex, which replaces histone H2A in canonical nucleosomes with H2A.Z in an ATP-dependent manner. Here, we show that promoter-proximal nucleosomes are highly heterogeneous for H2A.Z in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with substantial representation of nucleosomes containing one, two, or no H2A.Z molecules. SWR1-catalyzed H2A.Z replacement in vitro occurs in a stepwise and unidirectional fashion, one H2A.Z-H2B dimer at a time, producing heterotypic nucleosomes as intermediates and homotypic H2A.Z nucleosomes as end products. The ATPase activity of SWR1 is specifically stimulated by H2A-containing nucleosomes without ensuing histone H2A eviction. Remarkably, further addition of free H2A.Z-H2B dimer leads to hyperstimulation of ATPase activity, eviction of nucleosomal H2A-H2B and deposition of H2A.Z-H2B. These results suggest that the combination of H2A-containing nucleosome and free H2A.Z-H2B dimer acting as both effector and substrate for SWR1 governs the specificity and outcome of the replacement reaction. Total nucleosomes from MNase-treated nuclear extracts were fractionated by sequential immunoprecipitation into homotypic H2A/H2A (AA), heterotypic H2A/H2A.Z (AZ), and homotypic H2A.Z/H2A.Z (ZZ) nucleosomes.
Project description:In eukaryotes, DNA wraps around histones to form nucleosomes, which are compacted into chromatin. DNA-templated processes, including transcription, require chromatin disassembly and reassembly mediated by histone chaperones. Additionally, distinct histone variants can replace core histones to regulate chromatin structure and function. Although replacement of H2A with the evolutionarily conserved H2A.Z via the SWR1 histone chaperone complex has been extensively studied, in plants little is known about how a reduction of H2A.Z levels can be achieved. Here, we show that NRP proteins cause a decrease of H2A.Z-containing nucleosomes in Arabidopsis under standard growing conditions. nrp1-1 nrp2-2 double mutants show an over-accumulation of H2A.Z genome-wide, especially at heterochromatic regions normally H2A.Z-depleted in wild-type plants. Our work suggests that NRP proteins regulate gene expression by counteracting SWR1, thereby preventing excessive accumulation of H2A.Z.
Project description:Histone variant H2A.Z-containing nucleosomes are incorporated at most eukaryotic promoters. This incorporation is mediated by the conserved SWR1 complex, which replaces histone H2A in canonical nucleosomes with H2A.Z in an ATP-dependent manner. Here, we show that promoter-proximal nucleosomes are highly heterogeneous for H2A.Z in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, with substantial representation of nucleosomes containing one, two, or no H2A.Z molecules. SWR1-catalyzed H2A.Z replacement in vitro occurs in a stepwise and unidirectional fashion, one H2A.Z-H2B dimer at a time, producing heterotypic nucleosomes as intermediates and homotypic H2A.Z nucleosomes as end products. The ATPase activity of SWR1 is specifically stimulated by H2A-containing nucleosomes without ensuing histone H2A eviction. Remarkably, further addition of free H2A.Z-H2B dimer leads to hyperstimulation of ATPase activity, eviction of nucleosomal H2A-H2B and deposition of H2A.Z-H2B. These results suggest that the combination of H2A-containing nucleosome and free H2A.Z-H2B dimer acting as both effector and substrate for SWR1 governs the specificity and outcome of the replacement reaction.
Project description:The SWR1 chromatin remodeling complex (SRCAP in humans) is recruited to +1 nucleosomes downstream of transcription start sites of eukaryotic promoters, where it exchanges histone H2A for the specialized variant H2A.Z. Here we use cryo-EM to resolve the structural basis of the SWR1 interaction with free DNA, revealing a distinct open conformation of the Swr1 ATPase that enables sliding from accessible DNA to nucleosomes. A complete structural model of the SWR1-nucleosome complex illustrates critical structure-function roles for Swc2 and Swc3 subunits in oriented nucleosome engagement by SWR1. Moreover, an extended DNA-binding α -helix within the Swc3 subunit enables sensing of nucleosome linker length and is essential for SWR1 promoter-specific recruitment and activity. The previously unresolved N-SWR1 subcomplex forms a flexible extended structure enabling multivalent recognition of acetylated histone tails by reader domains to further direct SWR1 towards the +1 nucleosome. Altogether, our findings provide a generalizable mechanism for promoter-specific targeting of chromatin and transcription complexes.
Project description:Using BS-Seq to provide single-base resolution of DNA methylation status in 35S-SUC2 WT and antisilencing mutants (arp6, pie1, h2a.z, idm1, and ros1)
Project description:A cascade of histone acetylation events with subsequent incorporation of a histone H2A variant plays an essential part in transcription regulation in various model organisms. A key player in this cascade is the chromatin remodellling complex SWR1, which replaces the canonical histone H2A with its variant H2A.Z. Transcriptional regulation of polycistronic transcription units in the unicellular parasite Trypanosoma brucei has been shown to be highly dependent on acetylation of H2A.Z, which is mediated by the histone-acetyltransferase HAT2. The chromatin remodellling complex, which mediates H2A.Z incorporation is not known and an SWR1 orthologue in trypanosomes has not yet been reported. In this study, we identified and characterised an SWR1-like remodelller complex in T. brucei that is responsible for Pol II-dependent transcriptional regulation. Bioinformatic analysis of potential SNF2 DEAD/Box helicases, the key component of SWR1 complexes, identified a 1211 amino acids-long protein that exhibits key structural characteristics of the SWR1 subfamily. Systematic protein-protein interaction analysis revealed the existence of a novel complex exhibiting key features of an SWR1-like chromatin remodelller. RNAi-mediated depletion of the ATPase subunit of this complex resulted in a significant reduction of H2A.Z incorporation at transcription start sites and a subsequent decrease of steady-state mRNA levels. Furthermore, depletion of SWR1 and RNA-polymerase II (Pol II) caused massive chromatin condensation. The potential function of several proteins associated with the SWR1-like complex and with HAT2, the key factor of H2A.Z incorporation, is discussed.