Project description:Here we exploit the essential process of X-chromosome dosage compensation to elucidate basic mechanisms that control the assembly, genome-wide binding, and function of gene regulatory complexes that act over large chromosomal territories. We demonstrate that a subunit of C. elegans MLL/COMPASS, a gene-activation complex, acts within the dosage compensation complex (DCC), a condensin complex, to target the DCC to both X chromosomes of hermaphrodites and thereby reduce chromosome-wide gene expression. The DCC binds to two categories of sites on X: rex sites that recruit the DCC in an autonomous, sequence- dependent manner, and dox sites that reside primarily in promoters of expressed genes and bind the DCC robustly only when attached to X. We find that DCC mutants that abolish rex-site binding do not eliminate dox-site binding, but instead reduce it to the level observed at autosomal binding sites in wild-type animals. Changes in DCC binding to these non-rex sites occur throughout development and correlate with transcriptional activity of adjacent genes. Moreover, autosomal DCC binding is enhanced by rex-site binding in cis in X-autosome fusion chromosomes. Thus, dox and autosomal sites exhibit similar binding properties. Our data support a model for DCC binding in which low-level DCC binding at dox and autosomal sites is dictated by intrinsic properties correlated with high transcriptional activity. Sex-specific DCC recruitment to rex sites then greatly elevates DCC binding to dox sites in cis, which lack intrinsically high DCC affinity on their own. We also show here that the C. elegans DCC achieves dosage compensation through its effects on transcription. ChIP-chip experiments using antibodies against DPY-27, SDC-3, DPY-30, DPY-26, MIX-1, SMC-4, ASH-2 in wild-type embryos. ChIP-chip experiments using antibodies against SDC-3, DPY-27, DPY-30, ASH-2, and IgG in different DCC mutants. ChIP-chip experiments using antibodies against RNA Pol II (hypophosphorylated and S2 and S5) in wild type and sdc-2 partial loss of function mutants.

Project description:The essential process of dosage compensation equalizes X-chromosome gene expression between C. elegans XO males and XX hermaphrodites through a dosage compensation complex (DCC) that resembles condensin. The DCC binds to both X chromosomes of hermaphrodites to repress transcription by half. Here we show that post-translational modification by the SUMO conjugation pathway is essential for sex-specific assembly of the DCC onto X. Depletion of the SUMO peptide in vivo severely disrupts binding of particular DCC subunits and causes changes in X-linked gene expression similar to those caused by disrupting genes encoding DCC subunits. Three DCC subunits are themselves SUMOylated, and depletion of SUMO preferentially reduces their binding to X, suggesting that SUMOylation of DCC subunits is essential for robust association with X. DCC SUMOylation is triggered by the signal that initiates DCC assembly onto X. The initial step of assembly--binding of X-targeting factors to recruitment sites on X (rex sites)--is independent of SUMOylation, but robust binding of the complete complex requires SUMOylation. SUMOylated DCC subunits are enriched at rex sites, and SUMOylation enhances interactions between X-targeting factors and condensin subunits that facilitate DCC binding beyond the low level achieved without SUMOylation. DCC subunits also participate in condensin complexes essential for chromosome segregation, but their SUMOylation occurs only in the context of the DCC. Our results reinforce a newly emerging theme in which multiple proteins of a complex are SUMOylated in response to a specific stimulus, leading to accelerated complex formation and enhanced function. ChIP-chip experiments using antibodies against DPY-27, SDC-3, DPY-30, DPY-26, DPY-28 and FLAG-tagged SDC-2 in wild-type and smo-1 RNAi treated mixed embryos, with IGG controls. Also, sequential ChIP-chip experiments: (1) ChIP using FLAG antibodies to determine the genome-wide binding sites for SUMOylated proteins, (2) ChIP using FLAG antibodies followed by re-ChIP of eluted protein-chromatin complexes with DPY-27 antibodies to determine genome-wide binding sites for SUMOylated DPY-27 (referred to as DPY-27 re-ChIP experiments), (3) ChIP using FLAG antibodies followed by re-ChIP of eluted protein-chromatin with IGG antibodies to determine background binding (referred to as IGG re-ChIP experiments, and (4) ChIP using DPY-27 antibodies as a control to assess the efficiency of DPY-27 binding and detection in control vs. FLAG-tagged strains.

Project description:In Caenorhabditis elegans, the dosage compensation complex (DCC) specifically binds to and represses transcription from both X chromosomes in hermaphrodites. The DCC is composed of an X-specific condensin complex that interacts with several proteins. During embryogenesis, DCC starts localizing to the X chromosomes around the 40-cell stage, and is followed by X-enrichment of H4K20me1 between 100-cell to comma stage. Here, we analyzed dosage compensation of the X chromosome between sexes, and the roles of dpy-27 (condensin subunit), dpy-21 (non-condensin DCC member), set-1 (H4K20 monomethylase) and set-4 (H4K20 di-/tri-methylase) in X chromosome repression using mRNA-seq and ChIP-seq analyses across several developmental time points. We found that the DCC starts repressing the X chromosomes by the 40-cell stage, but X-linked transcript levels remain significantly higher in hermaphrodites compared to males through the comma stage of embryogenesis. Dpy-27 and dpy-21 are required for X chromosome repression throughout development, but particularly in early embryos dpy-27 and dpy-21 mutations produced distinct expression changes, suggesting a DCC independent role for dpy-21. We previously hypothesized that the DCC increases H4K20me1 by reducing set-4 activity on the X chromosomes. Accordingly, in the set-4 mutant, H4K20me1 increased more from the autosomes compared to the X, equalizing H4K20me1 level between X and autosomes. H4K20me1 increase on the autosomes led to a slight repression, resulting in a relative effect of X derepression. H4K20me1 depletion in the set-1 mutant showed greater X derepression compared to equalization of H4K20me1 levels between X and autosomes in the set-4 mutant, indicating that H4K20me1 level is important, but X to autosomal balance of H4K20me1 contributes only slightly to X-repression. Thus H4K20me1 by itself is not a downstream effector of the DCC. In summary, X chromosome dosage compensation starts in early embryos as the DCC localizes to the X, and is strengthened in later embryogenesis by H4K20me1.

Dataset Information

Caenorhabditis elegans

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