Project description:DAXX and ATRX are tumor suppressor proteins that form a complex with histone H3.3 chaperone and are frequently mutated in cancers with the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), such as pediatric glioblastoma. Rapid loss of function of either DAXX or ATRX are not by themselves sufficient to induce the ALT phenotype. However, cells lacking DAXX or ATRX can be readily selected for ALT-like features. Here, we show that a key feature of ALT selected DAXX and ATRX null glioblastoma cells is the attenuation of p53 function. RNA-seq analysis of DAXX or ATRX null U87 glioblastoma cells with ALT-like features revealed that p53 pathway is among perturbed. ALT-selected DAXX and ATRX-null cells had aberrant response to DNA damaging agent etoposide. Both DAXX and ATRX-null ALT cells showed a loss of p53 binding at a subset of response elements. Complementation of DAXX null cells with wt DAXX rescued p53 binding and transcription, while the tumor associated mutation L130R, that disrupts ATRX binding, was incapable of rescuing p53 chromatin binding. We show that histone H3.3 binding is reduced in DAXX-null cells especially at subtelomeric p53 binding sites and telomere repeats. These findings indicate that DAXX and ATRX function to enable p53 chromatin binding through modulation of histone H3.3 binding, especially at sub-telomeric sites.
Project description:DAXX and ATRX are tumor suppressor proteins that form a complex with histone H3.3 chaperone and are frequently mutated in cancers with the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), such as pediatric glioblastoma. Rapid loss of function of either DAXX or ATRX are not by themselves sufficient to induce the ALT phenotype. However, cells lacking DAXX or ATRX can be readily selected for ALT-like features. Here, we show that a key feature of ALT selected DAXX and ATRX null glioblastoma cells is the attenuation of p53 function. RNA-seq analysis of DAXX or ATRX null U87 glioblastoma cells with ALT-like features revealed that p53 pathway is among perturbed. ALT-selected DAXX and ATRX-null cells had aberrant response to DNA damaging agent etoposide. Both DAXX and ATRX-null ALT cells showed a loss of p53 binding at a subset of response elements. Complementation of DAXX null cells with wt DAXX rescued p53 binding and transcription, while the tumor associated mutation L130R, that disrupts ATRX binding, was incapable of rescuing p53 chromatin binding. We show that histone H3.3 binding is reduced in DAXX-null cells especially at subtelomeric p53 binding sites and telomere repeats. These findings indicate that DAXX and ATRX function to enable p53 chromatin binding through modulation of histone H3.3 binding, especially at sub-telomeric sites.
Project description:DAXX and ATRX are tumor suppressor proteins that form a complex with histone H3.3 chaperone and are frequently mutated in cancers with the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), such as pediatric glioblastoma. Rapid loss of function of either DAXX or ATRX are not by themselves sufficient to induce the ALT phenotype. However, cells lacking DAXX or ATRX can be readily selected for ALT-like features. Here, we show that a key feature of ALT selected DAXX and ATRX null glioblastoma cells is the attenuation of p53 function. RNA-seq analysis of DAXX or ATRX null U87 glioblastoma cells with ALT-like features revealed that p53 pathway is among perturbed. ALT-selected DAXX and ATRX-null cells had aberrant response to DNA damaging agent etoposide. Both DAXX and ATRX-null ALT cells showed a loss of p53 binding at a subset of response elements. Complementation of DAXX null cells with wt DAXX rescued p53 binding and transcription, while the tumor associated mutation L130R, that disrupts ATRX binding, was incapable of rescuing p53 chromatin binding. We show that histone H3.3 binding is reduced in DAXX-null cells especially at subtelomeric p53 binding sites and telomere repeats. These findings indicate that DAXX and ATRX function to enable p53 chromatin binding through modulation of histone H3.3 binding, especially at sub-telomeric sites.
Project description:Maintenance of chromatin homeostasis involves proper delivery of histone variants to the genome. The interplay between different chaperones regulating the supply of histone variants to distinct chromatin domains remains largely undeciphered. We report a role of promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein in the routing of histone variant H3.3 to chromatin and in the organization of megabase-size heterochromatic PML-associated domains that we call PADs. Loss of PML alters the heterochromatic state of PADs by shifting the histone H3 methylation balance from K9me3 to K27me3. Loss of PML impairs deposition of H3.3 by ATRX and DAXX in PADs but preserves the H3.3 loading function of HIRA in these regions. Our results unveil an unappreciated role of PML in the large-scale organization of chromatin and demonstrate a PML-dependent role of ATRX/DAXX in the deposition of H3.3 in PADs. Our data suggest that H3.3 loading by HIRA and ATRX-dependent H3K27 trimethylation constitute mechanisms ensuring maintenance of heterochromatin when the integrity of these domains is compromised.
Project description:The histone variant H3.3 is incorporated in a replication-independent manner at heterochromatic regions by the ATRX-DAXX histone chaperone complex. Here, we present a high-resolution x-ray crystal structure of an interaction surface between ATRX and DAXX. We used single amino acid substitutions in DAXX that abrogate formation of the complex to explore ATRX-dependent and -independent functions of DAXX. We found that the repression of specific murine endogenous retroviruses is dependent on DAXX, but not on ATRX. In support, we reveal the existence of two biochemically distinct DAXX-containing complexes: The ATRX-DAXX complex involved in gene repression and telomere chromatin structure, and a DAXX-SETDB1-KAP1-HDAC1 complex that represses endogenous retroviruses independently of ATRX and H3.3 incorporation into chromatin. We found that histone H3.3 stabilizes DAXX protein levels and affects DAXX-regulated genes independently of its incorporation into nucleosomes. Our findings represent the first description of a nucleosome-independent function for the H3.3 histone variant.
Project description:Objective: Daxx is a protein with multiple functions and is essential for embryonic development. Daxx knockout embryos fail to develop properly and exhibit lethal phenotype around E6.5. One of the important functions is as a histone chaperone for the histone H3 variant, H3.3. Daxx interacts with Atrx to form a protein complex that deposits H3.3 into heterochromatic regions of the genome, including centromeres, telomeres and repeat loci. Here, we investigated how histone chaperone function of Daxx contributes to the embryonic development. Methods: We developed two Daxx mutant alleles in the mouse germline which abolish the interactions between Daxx and Atrx (DaxxY130A), Daxx and H3.3 (DaxxS226A). We set up mating between either heterozygous DaxxY130A or heterozygous DaxxS226A individually and looked for the viability of homozygous mutants at different development stages. We also performed bulk RNA-seq on tissues from the two mutant embryos and analyzed the changes in gene expression and transposable elements (TE). Results: We found that the interaction between Daxx and Atrx is dispensable for viability in both the pre- and post-natal setting as homozygous Daxx-Y130A mutants are both viable and fertile. The loss of the Atrx interaction, however, does cause dysregulated expression of both endogenous retroviruses and nearby protein coding genes. On the contrary, the interaction between Daxx and H3.3 is not required for embryonic development but is essential for postnatal viability. Transcriptome analysis of embryonic tissues demonstrates that this interaction is important for silencing endogenous retroviruses and for maintaining proper hematopoiesis. Conclusions: The histone chaperone function of Daxx is dispensable for embryonic development but important for hematopoiesis, which is independent of the interaction with Atrx. Moreover, both the interactions with Atrx and with H3.3 is important for regulation of ERV expression. Overall, these results clearly demonstrate that Daxx and H3.3 have both Atrx-dependent and independent functions, advancing our understanding of this epigenetic regulatory complex.