Project description:Autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxia, deafness, and narcolepsy (ADCA-DN) is a late onset disorder, due to mutations in DNA methyltransferase type 1 (DNMT1). Yet our understanding of how these mutations in DNMT1 lead to the clinical phenotypes of ADCA-DN is still unclear. To address this, we used fibroblasts, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and induced neurons (iNs) generated from patients with ADCA-DN and controls, to determine the underlining epigenomic changes. Here we show that the differential expression pattern and differential methylation spectrum between patients and controls were tissue-specific. Furthermore, methylation and gene expression changes were negatively correlated in iPSCs and iNs. In addition, we identified a group of genes associated with clinical phenotypes of ADCA-DN, including PDGFB and PRDM8 for cerebellar ataxia, psychosis and dementia, and NR2F1 for deafness and optic atrophy. We further showed that ZFP57, which is required to maintain gene imprinting through DNA methylation during early development, was hypomethylated in promoters and exhibited upregulated expression in patients with ADCA-DN in both iPSC and iNs. Our results provide insight into the molecular changes associated with ADCA-DN, with potential implications for genes associated with related phenotypes.
Project description:DNA methylation alters the epigenetic landscape of the genome, plays critical roles in regulating gene expression, and ensures transposon silencing. As evidenced by the numerous defects associated with aberrant DNA methylation landscapes, establishing proper tissue-specific methylation patterns is critical. Yet, how such differences arise remains a largely open question in both plants and animals. Here we demonstrate that four CLASSY proteins (CLSY1-4), which are differentially expressed during plant development, play major roles in controlling tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns. Depending on the tissue, the genetic requirements for specific CLSYs differ significantly and on a global scale, certain clsy mutants are sufficient to largely shift the epigenetic landscape between tissues. Together, these findings not only reveal substantial epigenetic diversity between tissues, but assign these changes to specific CLSY proteins, revealing how locus-specific targeting combined with tissue-specific expression enables the CLSYs to generate epigenetic diversity during plant development.
Project description:DNA methylation alters the epigenetic landscape of the genome, plays critical roles in regulating gene expression, and ensures transposon silencing. As evidenced by the numerous defects associated with aberrant DNA methylation landscapes, establishing proper tissue-specific methylation patterns is critical. Yet, how such differences arise remains a largely open question in both plants and animals. Here we demonstrate that four CLASSY proteins (CLSY1-4), which are differentially expressed during plant development, play major roles in controlling tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns. Depending on the tissue, the genetic requirements for specific CLSYs differ significantly and on a global scale, certain clsy mutants are sufficient to largely shift the epigenetic landscape between tissues. Together, these findings not only reveal substantial epigenetic diversity between tissues, but assign these changes to specific CLSY proteins, revealing how locus-specific targeting combined with tissue-specific expression enables the CLSYs to generate epigenetic diversity during plant development.
Project description:DNA methylation alters the epigenetic landscape of the genome, plays critical roles in regulating gene expression, and ensures transposon silencing. As evidenced by the numerous defects associated with aberrant DNA methylation landscapes, establishing proper tissue-specific methylation patterns is critical. Yet, how such differences arise remains a largely open question in both plants and animals. Here we demonstrate that four CLASSY proteins (CLSY1-4), which are differentially expressed during plant development, play major roles in controlling tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns. Depending on the tissue, the genetic requirements for specific CLSYs differ significantly and on a global scale, certain clsy mutants are sufficient to largely shift the epigenetic landscape between tissues. Together, these findings not only reveal substantial epigenetic diversity between tissues, but assign these changes to specific CLSY proteins, revealing how locus-specific targeting combined with tissue-specific expression enables the CLSYs to generate epigenetic diversity during plant development.
Project description:DNA methylation alters the epigenetic landscape of the genome, plays critical roles in regulating gene expression, and ensures transposon silencing. As evidenced by the numerous defects associated with aberrant DNA methylation landscapes, establishing proper tissue-specific methylation patterns is critical. Yet, how such differences arise remains a largely open question in both plants and animals. Here we demonstrate that four CLASSY proteins (CLSY1-4), which are differentially expressed during plant development, play major roles in controlling tissue-specific DNA methylation patterns. Depending on the tissue, the genetic requirements for specific CLSYs differ significantly and on a global scale, certain clsy mutants are sufficient to largely shift the epigenetic landscape between tissues. Together, these findings not only reveal substantial epigenetic diversity between tissues, but assign these changes to specific CLSY proteins, revealing how locus-specific targeting combined with tissue-specific expression enables the CLSYs to generate epigenetic diversity during plant development.