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Proteasome-dependent truncation of the negative heterochromatin regulator Epe1 mediates antifungal resistance

ABSTRACT: Epe1 histone demethylase restricts H3K9-methylation-dependent heterochromatin, preventing it from spreading over, and silencing, gene-containing regions in fission yeast. External stress induces an adaptive response allowing heterochromatin island formation that confers resistance on surviving wild-type lineages. Here we investigate the mechanism by which Epe1 is regulated in response to stress. Exposure to caffeine or antifungals results in Epe1 ubiquitylation and proteasome-dependent removal of the N-terminal 150 residues from Epe1, generating truncated tEpe1 which accumulates in the cytoplasm. Constitutive tEpe1 expression increases H3K9 methylation over several chromosomal regions, reducing expression of underlying genes and enhancing resistance. Reciprocally, constitutive non-cleavable Epe1 expression decreases resistance. tEpe1-mediated resistance requires a functional JmjC demethylase domain. Moreover, caffeine-induced Epe1-to-tEpe1 cleavage is dependent on an intact cell-integrity MAP kinase stress signalling pathway, mutations in which alter resistance. Thus, environmental changes provoke a mechanism that curtails the function of this key epigenetic modifier, allowing heterochromatin to reprogram gene expression, thereby bestowing resistance to some cells within a population. H3K9me-heterochromatin components are conserved in human and crop plant fungal pathogens for which a limited number of antifungals exist. Our findings reveal how transient heterochromatin-dependent antifungal resistant epimutations develop and thus inform on how they might be countered.

ORGANISM(S): Schizosaccharomyces pombe

PROVIDER: GSE190267 | GEO | 2022/05/04

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:H3K9 methylation (H3K9me) is a conserved marker of heterochromatin, a transcriptionally silent chromatin structure. Knowledge of the mechanisms for regulating heterochromatin distribution is limited. The fission yeast JmjC domain-containing protein Epe1 localizes to heterochromatin mainly through its interaction with Swi6, a homologue of heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1), and directs JmjC-mediated H3K9me demethylation in vivo. Here, we found that loss of epe1 (epe1∆) induced a red-white variegated phenotype in a red-pigment accumulation background that generated uniform red colonies. Analysis of isolated red and white colonies revealed that silencing of genes involved in pigment accumulation by stochastic ectopic heterochromatin formation led to white colony formation. In addition, genome-wide analysis of red- and white-isolated clones revealed that epe1∆ resulted in a heterogeneous heterochromatin distribution among clones. We found that Epe1 had an N-terminal domain distinct from its JmjC domain, which activated transcription in both fission and budding yeasts. The N-terminal transcriptional activation (NTA) domain was involved in suppression of ectopic heterochromatin-mediated red-white variegation. We introduced a single copy of Epe1 into epe1∆ clones harboring ectopic heterochromatin, and found that Epe1 could reduce H3K9me from ectopic heterochromatin but some of the heterochromatin persisted. This persistence was due to a latent H3K9me source embedded in ectopic heterochromatin. Epe1H297A, a canonical JmjC mutant, suppressed red-white variegation, but entirely failed to remove already-established ectopic heterochromatin, suggesting that Epe1 prevented stochastic de novo deposition of ectopic H3K9me in an NTA-dependent but JmjC-independent manner, while its JmjC domain mediated removal of H3K9me from established ectopic heterochromatin. Our results suggest that Epe1 not only limits the distribution of heterochromatin but also controls the balance between suppression and retention of heterochromatin-mediated epigenetic diversification.

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Proteasome-dependent truncation of the negative heterochromatin regulator Epe1 mediates antifungal resistance

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