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Chromatin and Transcriptional Signatures for Nodal Signaling During Endoderm Formation in hESCs

ABSTRACT: To elucidate the Nodal transcriptional network that governs endoderm formation, we used ChIP-Seq to identify genomic targets for SMAD2/3, SMAD3, SMAD4, FOXH1 and the active and repressive chromatin marks, H3K4me3 and H3K27me3, in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and derived endoderm. We demonstrate that while SMAD2/3, SMAD4 and FOXH1 target binding is highly dynamic, there is an optimal signature for driving endoderm commitment. Initially, this signature is marked by both H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 as a very broad bivalent domain in hESCs. Within the first 24 hours, at a few select promoters, SMAD2/3 accumulation coincides with H3K27me3 depletion so that these loci become selectively monovalent marked only by H3K4me3. The correlation between SMAD2/3 binding, monovalent formation and transcriptional activation suggests a mechanism by which SMAD proteins coordinate with chromatin at critical promoters to drive endoderm specification.

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE29422 | GEO | 2011/05/21

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA141533

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Epigenetic priming factors establish a permissive epigenetic landscape which is not required until a later developmental or physiological time point, temporally uncoupling the presence of these factors with their phenotypic effects. One classic example of epigenetic priming is in the context of bivalent chromatin, found in pluripotent stem cells and early embryos at key developmental gene promoters marked by both activating-associated H3K4me3 and repressive-associated H3K27me3 histone modifications. It is currently unknown how these bivalent domains are targeted, or precisely how they impact on lineage commitment. Here we show that the small heterodimerising non-enzymatic DNA binding proteins Developmental Pluripotency Associated 2 (Dppa2) and 4 (Dppa4) act as epigenetic priming factors to establish bivalency at a subset of developmental genes. Dppa2/4 localise to the +1 nucleosome position of bivalent genes and while they are not required for pluripotency in embryonic stem cells (ESCs), double knockout cells fail to exit pluripotency and to differentiate efficiently, with delays in upregulating bivalently marked lineage genes. Proteomics reveal that Dppa2/4 interact on chromatin with members of the COMPASS and Polycomb complexes important for H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 deposition, respectively. Epigenetic profiling reveals a striking loss of H3K4me3, H3K27me3, and their associated enzymatic machinery at a significant subset of bivalent promoters in Dppa2/4 mutants, in addition to loss of H2A.Z and chromatin accessibility. In wild-type ESCs, these “Dppa2/4-dependent” bivalent promoters are characterised by low H3K4me3 enrichment and breadth, near-absent expression levels and initiating but not elongating RNA polymerase. Notably, Dppa2/4-dependent promoters are less evolutionarily conserved suggesting that they lack additional safeguard measures to maintain bivalency at these genes in the absence of Dppa2/4. Concomitantly with the loss of bivalency, Dppa2/4-dependent bivalent promoters gain DNA methylation and consequently are no longer able to be effectively activated upon ESC differentiation, leading to defects in cell fate acquisition. Our findings reveal a targeting principle for bivalency to developmental gene promoters poising them for future lineage specific gene activation.

Dataset Information

Chromatin and Transcriptional Signatures for Nodal Signaling During Endoderm Formation in hESCs

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