Epigenetic adaptation to uncontrolled heterochromatin spreading
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Schizosaccharomyces pombe
PROVIDER: GSE60521 | GEO | 2015/03/13
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA258461
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:H3K9 methylation (H3K9me) marks transcriptionally silent genomic regions called heterochromatin. A conserved class of HP1 proteins are critically required to establish and maintain heterochromatin. HP1 proteins bind to H3K9me, recruit factors that promote heterochromatin formation, and oligomerize to form phase-separated condensates. We do not understand how HP1 protein binding to heterochromatin establishes and maintains transcriptional silencing. Here, we demonstrate that the S.pombe HP1 homolog, Swi6, can be completely bypassed to establish silencing at ectopic and endogenous loci when an H3K4 methyltransferase, Set1 and an H3K14 acetyltransferase, Mst2 are deleted. Deleting Set1 and Mst2 enhances Clr4 enzymatic activity, leading to higher H3K9me levels and increased spreading. In contrast, Swi6 and its capacity to oligomerize were indispensable during epigenetic maintenance. Our results demonstrate the role of HP1 proteins in regulating histone modification crosstalk during establishment and identifies a genetically separable function in maintaining epigenetic memory.
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Project description:H3K9 methylation (H3K9me) marks transcriptionally silent genomic regions called heterochromatin. A conserved class of HP1 proteins are critically required to establish and maintain heterochromatin. HP1 proteins bind to H3K9me, recruit factors that promote heterochromatin formation, and oligomerize to form phase-separated condensates. We do not understand how HP1 protein binding to heterochromatin establishes and maintains transcriptional silencing. Here, we demonstrate that the S.pombe HP1 homolog, Swi6, can be completely bypassed to establish silencing at ectopic and endogenous loci when an H3K4 methyltransferase, Set1 and an H3K14 acetyltransferase, Mst2 are deleted. Deleting Set1 and Mst2 enhances Clr4 enzymatic activity, leading to higher H3K9me levels and increased spreading. In contrast, Swi6 and its capacity to oligomerize were indispensable during epigenetic maintenance. Our results demonstrate the role of HP1 proteins in regulating histone modification crosstalk during establishment and identifies a genetically separable function in maintaining epigenetic memory.
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Project description:H3K9 methylation (H3K9me) marks transcriptionally silent genomic regions called heterochromatin. A conserved class of HP1 proteins are critically required to establish and maintain heterochromatin. HP1 proteins bind to H3K9me, recruit factors that promote heterochromatin formation, and oligomerize to form phase-separated condensates. We do not understand how HP1 protein binding to heterochromatin establishes and maintains transcriptional silencing. Here, we demonstrate that the S.pombe HP1 homolog, Swi6, can be completely bypassed to establish silencing at ectopic and endogenous loci when an H3K4 methyltransferase, Set1 and an H3K14 acetyltransferase, Mst2 are deleted. Deleting Set1 and Mst2 enhances Clr4 enzymatic activity, leading to higher H3K9me levels and increased spreading. In contrast, Swi6 and its capacity to oligomerize were indispensable during epigenetic maintenance. Our results demonstrate the role of HP1 proteins in regulating histone modification crosstalk during establishment and identifies a genetically separable function in maintaining epigenetic memory.
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Project description:Stress can spur the redistribution of histone modifications to establish novel phenotypes. We do not understand how cells leverage existing epigenetic pathways to establish and maintain new gene expression states that enhance fitness and cell survival. H3K9 methylation promotes epigenetic silencing in fission yeast (S. pombe). Heterochromatin establishment depends on the H3K9 methyltransferase, Clr4 and is opposed by two major two heterochromatin regulators, Epe1, a putative H3K9 demethylase and Mst2, an H3K14 acetyltransferase. We designed an inducible system in mst2D cells to toggle Epe1 availability on-demand and trigger heterochromatin misregulation thus initiating an adaptive epigenetic response. Following Epe1 depletion, we mapped transcriptome and H3K9me3 changes as a function of time. Although Epe1 could be removed in ~30 minutes, the population of cells took two orders of magnitude longer to establish an adaptive phenotype. Similarly, re-expressing Epe1 did not switch cells back to their initial state. Instead, cells exhibit unique transcriptional signatures during recovery that encode adaptive memory that is both reversible and tunable. Our results reveal that the slow kinetics of chromatin state changes enable bet-hedging for cells to identify optimal adaptive solutions while hysteresis within the gene regulatory network encodes cellular memory.
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Project description:Stress can spur the redistribution of histone modifications to establish novel phenotypes. We do not understand how cells leverage existing epigenetic pathways to establish and maintain new gene expression states that enhance fitness and cell survival. H3K9 methylation promotes epigenetic silencing in fission yeast (S. pombe). Heterochromatin establishment depends on the H3K9 methyltransferase, Clr4 and is opposed by two major two heterochromatin regulators, Epe1, a putative H3K9 demethylase and Mst2, an H3K14 acetyltransferase. We designed an inducible system in mst2D cells to toggle Epe1 availability on-demand and trigger heterochromatin misregulation thus initiating an adaptive epigenetic response. Following Epe1 depletion, we mapped transcriptome and H3K9me3 changes as a function of time. Although Epe1 could be removed in ~30 minutes, the population of cells took two orders of magnitude longer to establish an adaptive phenotype. Similarly, re-expressing Epe1 did not switch cells back to their initial state. Instead, cells exhibit unique transcriptional signatures during recovery that encode adaptive memory that is both reversible and tunable. Our results reveal that the slow kinetics of chromatin state changes enable bet-hedging for cells to identify optimal adaptive solutions while hysteresis within the gene regulatory network encodes cellular memory.
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Project description: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.
2022-10-13 | PXD030205 | Pride
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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Project description: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.
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Project description:Genes embedded in H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me)-dependent heterochromatin are transcriptionally silenced. In fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, H3K9me-mediated heterochromatin silencing can be transmitted through cell division provided the counteracting demethylase Epe1 is absent. It is possible that under certain conditions wild-type cells might utilize heterochromatin heritability to form epimutations, phenotypes mediated by unstable silencing rather than DNA changes. Here we show that resistant heterochromatin-dependent epimutants are formed in response to threshold levels of caffeine. Unstable resistant isolates exhibit distinct heterochromatin islands, which reduce the expression of underlying genes, one of which is known to confer resistance when deleted. Targeting synthetic heterochromatin to implicated loci confirms that resistance results from heterochromatin-mediated silencing. Our analyses reveal that epigenetic processes promote phenotypic plasticity, allowing wild-type fission yeast to adapt to non-favorable environments without altering their genotype. In some isolates, subsequent or co-occurring gene amplification events enhance resistance. Caffeine impacts two anti-silencing factors: levels of Epe1 are downregulated, reducing its chromatin association; and expression of the Mst2 histone acetyltransferase is switched to a shortened isoform. Thus, heterochromatin-dependent epimutant formation provides a bet-hedging strategy that allows cells to remain genetically wild-type but transiently adapt to external insults. As unstable caffeine-resistant isolates show cross-resistance to fungicides it is likely that related heterochromatin-dependent processes contribute to anti-fungal resistance in both plant and human pathogenic fungi.
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Project description:Histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) mediates heterochromatic gene silencing and is important for genome stability and the regulation of gene expression. The establishment and epigenetic maintenance of heterochromatin involve the recruitment of H3K9 methyltransferases to specific sites on DNA, followed by the recognition of pre-existing H3K9me by the methyltransferase and methylation of proximal histone H3. This positive feedback loop must be tightly regulated to prevent deleterious epigenetic gene silencing. Extrinsic anti-silencing mechanisms involving histone demethylation or boundary elements help limit the spread of inappropriate H3K9me. However, how H3K9 methyltransferase activity is locally restricted or prevented from initiating random H3K9me—which would lead to aberrant gene silencing and epigenetic instability—is not fully understood. Here we reveal an autoinhibited conformation in the conserved H3K9 methyltransferase Clr4 (Suv39h) of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe that has a critical role in preventing aberrant heterochromatin formation. Biochemical and X-ray crystallographic data show that an internal loop in Clr4 inhibits the catalytic activity of this enzyme by blocking the histone H3K9 substrate-binding pocket, and that automethylation of specific lysines in this loop promotes a conformational switch that enhances the H3K9me activity of Clr4. Mutations that are predicted to disrupt this regulation lead to aberrant H3K9me, loss of heterochromatin domains, and growth inhibition, demonstrating the importance of the intrinsic inhibition and auto-activation of Clr4 in regulating the deposition of H3K9me and in preventing epigenetic instability. Together, conservation of the Clr4 autoregulatory loop in other H3K9 methyltransferases and the automethylation of a corresponding lysine in the human SUV39H2 homologue suggest that the mechanism described here is broadly conserved.
2018-07-17 | GSE102905 | GEO