Project description:Histone tails are post-translationally modified at multiple sites, including Lys36 on histone H3 (H3K36). The H3K36 methylation has been shown to associate with the transcription of active euchromatin, alternative splicing, DNA repair and recombination. However, the role of H3K36 methylation during cell differentiation is still obscure.Previous investigations found that a site specific Lys-to-Met mutation on histones can serve as an inhibitor of this site specific methyltransferases to repress global methylation on that lysine of histones. In this study we usedH3K36 Lys-to-Met mutant (H3K36M) as a tool to investigaterole of H3K36 methylation in our cell differentiation system. Expression of H3K36M repressed global H3K36 methylation but increased H3K27me3 as previously reported. On our cell differentiation system, H3K36M suppressed adipogenesis and myogenesis. Our pioneer RNA-seqstudy further showed that H3K36M repressed the expression of master regulator genes. Here, we did ChIP-seq of several histone modifications to further explore the changes on the epigenome by expression of H3K36M. Interestingly, on some important master regulator genes loci, the repressive marker H3K27me3 increased significantly, correlated with the repression on their expression. The H3K36M decreases global H3K36 di- and tri-methylation. To clarify which H3K36 methyltransferase is important for cell differentiation, we knocked down H3K36 di-methyltransferases Nsd1 and Nsd2, H3K36 tri-methyltransferase Setd2 separately. Nsd2 knockdown, but not Nsd1 or Setd2,can phenocopythe adipogenesis defect in H3K36M expressed cells.Comparing in RNA-seq results, Nsd2 knockdown cells showed similar gene expression profile with H3K36M expressed cells in adipogenesis. These suggest that Nsd2-mediated H3K36me2 plays an important role in adipogenesis.To study the role of H3K36 methylation in vivo, we generated an aP2 promoter driven H3K36M expressed transgenic mouse (Tg), to express H3K36M specifically in adipose tissue. The Tg mice showedsignificant dysfunction in both white and brown adipose tissues. Their fat tissues gene expression profile changed significantly. All of these indicate that H3K36 methylation is important for adipose tissue developmentin vivo.Together, our comprehensive studies provide novel insights into dynamics of H3K36 methylation and its important role in transcriptional regulation of cell differentiation and mouse fat tissue development.
Project description:Histone lysine methylation is a key epigenetic modification that regulates eukaryotic transcription. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it is controlled by a reduced but evolutionarily conserved suite of methyltransferase (Set1p, Set2p, Dot1p, and Set5p) and demethylase (Jhd1p, Jhd2p, Rph1p, and Gis1p) enzymes. Many of these enzymes are extensively phosphorylated in vivo; however, the functions of specific phosphosites are poorly understood. Here, we comprehensively investigate the phosphoregulation of the yeast histone methylation network by analysing 40 phosphosites on six enzymes through mutagenesis. A total of 82 genomically-edited S. cerevisiae strains were generated and screened for changes in native H3K4, H3K36, and H3K79 methylation levels, and for sensitivity to environmental stress conditions. This demonstrated the functional relevance of phosphosites on methyltransferase Set2p (S6, S8, S10, and T127) and demethylase Jhd1p (S44) in the regulation of H3K36 methylation in vivo, and in the coordination of specific stress response pathways in budding yeast. Proteomic analysis of SET2 mutants revealed that phosphorylation site mutations lead to significant downregulation of membrane-associated proteins and processes, consistent with changes brought about by SET2 deletion. This study represents the first systematic investigation into the phosphoregulation of an entire epigenetic network in any eukaryote, and our findings establish phosphorylation as an important regulator of histone lysine methylation in S. cerevisiae.
Project description:The transcription elongation factor Spt6 and the H3K36 methyltransferase Set2 are both required for H3K36 methylation and transcriptional fidelity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. By selecting for suppressors of a transcriptional defect in an spt6 mutant, we have isolated dominant SET2 mutations (SET2sup mutations) in a region encoding a proposed autoinhibitory domain. The SET2sup mutations suppress the H3K36 methylation defect in the spt6 mutant, as well as in other mutants that impair H3K36 methylation. ChIP-seq studies demonstrate that the H3K36 methylation defect in the spt6 mutant, as well as its suppression by a SET2sup mutation, occur at a step following the recruitment of Set2 to chromatin. Other experiments show that a similar genetic relationship between Spt6 and Set2 exists in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Taken together, our results suggest a conserved mechanism by which the Set2 autoinhibitory domain requires multiple interactions to ensure that H3K36 methylation occurs specifically on actively transcribed chromatin.
Project description:We characterized the role of H3K36 methylation in regulating repair of UV damage from the transcribed strand (TS) of yeast genes by the transcription coupled nucleotide excision repair (TC-NER) pathway. TC-NER is triggered when RNA polymerase stalls at UV damage, such as a UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD). During transcription, the histone methyltransferase Set2 methylates histone H3K36, but it is not known if H3K36 methylation regulates TC-NER. Here, we report genome-wide repair maps of UV-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) in yeast cells containing mutants in histone H3K36 (or set2).
Project description:Histone H3 lysine 36 methylation (H3K36me) is a conserved histone modification associated with transcription and DNA repair. Although the effects of H3K36 methylation have been studied, the genome-wide dynamics of H3K36me deposition and removal are not known. We established rapid and reversible optogenetic control for Set2, the sole H3K36 methyltransferase in yeast, by fusing the enzyme with the light activated nuclear shuttle (LANS) domain. Early H3K36me3 dynamics identified methylation in vivo, with total H3K36me3 levels correlating with RNA abundance. Although genes exhibited disparate levels of H3K36 methylation, relative rates of H3K36me3 accumulation were largely linear and consistent across genes, suggesting that H3K36me3 deposition occurs uniformly across all genes in a directed fashion regardless of transcription frequency. Removal of H3K36me3 was highly dependent on the demethylase Rph1. However, the per-gene rate of H3K36me3 loss weakly correlated with RNA abundance and followed exponential decay, suggesting H3K36 demethylases act in a global, stochastic manner. Altogether, these data provide a detailed temporal view of H3K36 methylation and demethylation that suggest transcription-dependent and independent mechanisms for H3K36me deposition and removal, respectively.