Project description:The benign condition hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin (HPFH) is known to ameliorate symptoms of co-inherited β-hemoglobinopathies, such as sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. The condition is sometimes associated with point mutations in the fetal globin promoters that disrupt the binding of the repressors BCL11A or ZBTB7A/LRF, which have been extensively studied. HPFH is also associated with a range of deletions within the β-globin locus that all reside downstream of the fetal HBG2 gene. These deletional forms of HPFH are poorly understood and are the focus of this study. Numerous different mechanisms have been proposed to explain how downstream deletions can boost the expression of the fetal globin genes, including the deletion of silencer elements, of genes encoding noncoding RNA, and bringing downstream enhancer elements into proximity with the fetal globin gene promoters. Here we systematically analyze the deletions associated with both HPFH and a related condition known as δβ-thalassemia and propose a unifying mechanism. In all cases where fetal globin is upregulated, the proximal adult β-globin (HBB) promoter is deleted. We use clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-mediated gene editing to delete or disrupt elements within the promoter and find that virtually all mutations that reduce ΗΒΒ promoter activity result in elevated fetal globin expression. These results fit with previous models where the fetal and adult globin genes compete for the distal locus control region and suggest that targeting the ΗΒΒ promoter might be explored to elevate fetal globin and reduce sickle globin expression as a treatment of β-hemoglobinopathies.
Project description:The benign condition Hereditary Persistence of Foetal Haemoglobin (HPFH) is known to ameliorate symptoms when co-inherited with beta-haemoglobinopathies, such as sickle cell disease and beta-thalassaemia. The condition is sometimes associated with point mutations in the foetal globin promoters that disrupt the binding of the repressors BCL11A or ZBTB7A/LRF, which have been extensively studied. HPFH is also associated with a range of deletions within the beta-globin locus that all reside downstream of the foetal HBG2 gene. These deletional forms of HPFH are poorly understood and are the focus of this study. Numerous different mechanisms have been proposed to explain how downstream deletions can boost the expression of the foetal globin genes, including the deletion of silencer elements, of genes encoding non-coding RNA, and bringing downstream enhancer elements into proximity with the foetal globin gene promoters. Here we systematically analyse the deletions associated with both HPFH and a related condition known as beta-thalassaemia and propose a unifying mechanism. In all cases where foetal globin is up-regulated, the proximal adult beta-globin (HBB) promoter is deleted. We use CRISPR gene editing to delete or disrupt elements within the promoter and find that virtually all mutations that reduce promoter activity, result in elevated foetal globin expression. These results fit with previous models where the foetal and adult globin genes compete for the distal Locus Control Region and suggest that targeting the promoter might be explored to elevate foetal globin and reduce sickle globin expression as a treatment for beta-haemoglobinopathies.
Project description:On stably replicating episomes, transcriptional activation of the epsilon-globin promoter by the beta-globin locus control region HS2 enhancer is correlated with an increase in nuclease sensitivity which is limited to the TATA-proximal nucleosome (N1). To elucidate what underlies this increase in nuclease sensitivity and the link between chromatin modification and gene expression, we examined the nucleoprotein composition and histone acetylation status of transcriptionally active and inactive promoters. Micrococcal nuclease digestion of active promoters in nuclei released few nucleosome-like nucleoprotein complexes containing N1 sequences in comparison to results with inactive promoters. We also observed that N1 DNA fragments from active promoters are of a subnucleosomal length. Nevertheless, chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments indicate that histones H3 and H4 are present on N1 sequences from active promoters, with H3 being dramatically hyperacetylated compared with that from inactive promoters and vector sequences. Strikingly, H3 in the adjacent upstream nucleosome (N2) does not appear to be differentially acetylated in active and inactive promoters, indicating that the nucleosome modification of the promoter that accompanies transactivation by HS2 is highly directed and specific. However, global acetylation of histones in vivo by trichostatin A did not activate transcription in the absence of HS2, suggesting that HS2 contributes additional activities necessary for transactivation. N1 sequences from active promoters also contain reduced levels of linker histone H1. The detection of a protected subnucleosomal sized N1 DNA fragment and the recovery of N1 DNA sequences in immunoprecipitations using anti-acetylated H3 and H4 antibodies argue that N1 is present, but in an altered conformation, in the active promoters.
Project description:Specific communication between gene promoters and enhancers is critical for accurate regulation of gene expression. However, it remains unclear how specific interactions between multiple regulatory elements contained within a single chromatin domain are coordinated. Recent technological advances which can detect multi-way chromatin interactions at single alleles can provide insights into how multiple regulatory elements cooperate or compete for transcriptional activation. Here, we use such an approach to investigate how interactions of the ?-globin enhancers are distributed between multiple promoters in a mouse model in which the ?-globin domain is extended to include several additional genes. Our data show that gene promoters do not form mutually exclusive interactions with enhancers, but all interact simultaneously in a single complex. These findings suggest that promoters do not structurally compete for interactions with enhancers, but form a regulatory hub structure, which is consistent with recent models of transcriptional activation occurring in non-membrane bound nuclear compartments.
Project description:To investigate the control of the gamma-globin gene during development, we produced transgenic mice in which sequences of the beta-gene promoter were replaced by equivalent sequences of the gamma-gene promoter in the context of a human beta-globin locus yeast artificial chromosome (betaYAC) and analyzed the effects on globin gene expression during development. Replacement of 1,077 nucleotides (nt) of the beta-gene promoter by 1,359 nt of the gamma promoter resulted in striking inhibition of the gamma-promoter/beta-gene expression in the adult stage of development, providing direct evidence that the expression of the gamma gene in the adult is mainly controlled by autonomous silencing. Measurements of the expression of the gamma promoter/beta-globin gene as well as the wild gamma genes showed that gene competition is also involved in the control of gamma-gene expression in the fetal stage of development. We conclude that autonomous silencing is the main mechanism controlling gamma-gene expression in the adult, while autonomous silencing as well as competition between gamma and beta genes contributes to the control of gamma to beta switching during fetal development.
Project description:The mechanism responsible for developmental stage-specific regulation of ?-globin gene expression involves DNA methylation. Previous results have shown that the ?-globin promoter is nearly fully demethylated during fetal liver erythroid differentiation and partially demethylated during adult bone marrow erythroid differentiation. The hypothesis that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5 hmC), a known intermediate in DNA demethylation pathways, is involved in demethylation of the ?-globin gene promoter during erythroid differentiation was investigated by analyzing levels of 5-methylcytosine (5 mC) and 5 hmC at a CCGG site within the 5' ?-globin gene promoter region in FACS-purified cells from baboon bone marrow and fetal liver enriched for different stages of erythroid differentiation. Our results show that 5 mC and 5 hmC levels at the ?-globin promoter are dynamically modulated during erythroid differentiation with peak levels of 5 hmC preceding and/or coinciding with demethylation. The Tet2 and Tet3 dioxygenases that catalyze formation of 5 hmC are expressed during early stages of erythroid differentiation and Tet3 expression increases as differentiation proceeds. In baboon CD34+ bone marrow-derived erythroid progenitor cell cultures, ?-globin expression was positively correlated with 5 hmC and negatively correlated with 5 mC at the ?-globin promoter. Supplementation of culture media with Vitamin C, a cofactor of the Tet dioxygenases, reduced ?-globin promoter DNA methylation and increased ?-globin expression when added alone and in an additive manner in combination with either DNA methyltransferase or LSD1 inhibitors. These results strongly support the hypothesis that the Tet-mediated 5 hmC pathway is involved in developmental stage-specific regulation of ?-globin expression by mediating demethylation of the ?-globin promoter.
Project description:The mouse beta-globin gene locus control region (LCR), located upstream of the beta-globin gene cluster, is essential for the activated transcription of genes in the cluster. The LCR contains multiple binding sites for transactivators, including Maf-recognition elements (MAREs). However, little is known about the specific proteins that bind to these sites or the time at which they bind during erythroid differentiation. We have performed chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments to determine the recruitment of the erythroid-specific transactivator p45 NF-E2/MafK (p18 NF-E2) heterodimer and small Maf proteins to various regions in the globin gene locus before and after the induction of murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cell differentiation. We report that, before induction, the LCR is occupied by small Maf proteins, and, on erythroid maturation, the NF-E2 complex is recruited to the LCR and the active globin promoters, even though the promoters do not contain MAREs. This differentiation-coupled recruitment of NF-E2 complex correlates with a greater than 100-fold increase in beta-major globin transcription, but is not associated with a significant change in locus-wide histone H3 acetylation. These findings suggest that the beta-globin gene locus exists in a constitutively open chromatin conformation before terminal differentiation, and we speculate that recruitment of NF-E2 complex to the LCR and active promoters may be a rate-limiting step in the activation of beta-globin gene expression.
Project description:Specific communication between gene promoters and enhancers is critical for accurate regulation of gene expression. However, it remains unclear how specific interactions between multiple regulatory elements contained within a single chromatin domain are coordinated. Recent technological advances which can detect multi-way chromatin interactions at single alleles can provide insights into how multiple regulatory elements cooperate or compete for transcriptional activation. Here, we use such an approach to investigate how interactions of the α-globin enhancers are distributed between multiple promoters in a mouse model in which the α-globin domain is extended to include several additional genes. Our data show that gene promoters do not form mutually exclusive interactions with enhancers, but all interact simultaneously in a single complex. These findings suggest that promoters do not structurally compete for interactions with enhancers, but form a regulatory hub structure, which is consistent with recent models of transcriptional activation occurring in non- membrane bound nuclear compartments.