1. The activation of a Suv39h1 -repressive antisense lncRNA by OCT4 couples the control of H3K9 methylation to pluripotency
- Author
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Agnès Dubois, Sandrine Vandormael-Pournin, Pablo Navarro, Michel Cohen-Tannoudji, Victor Heurtier, Laure Bernard, Nick D.L. Owens, Igor Ulitsky, Noa Gil, Almira Chervova, Alexandra Tachtsidi, Institut Pasteur [Paris] (IP), Epigénomique, Prolifération et Identité Cellulaire - Epigenomics, Proliferation and the Identity of Cells (EPIC), Institut Pasteur [Paris] (IP)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Collège Doctoral, Sorbonne Université (SU), Weizmann Institute of Science [Rehovot, Israël], Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI), Novartis Research Foundation, University of Exeter, L.B. acknowledges the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Sorbonne Université for funding. P.N. and M.C-T. acknowledge the Labex Revive (Investissement d’Avenir, ANR-10-LABX-73), the Institut Pasteur and the CNRS for funding., ANR-10-LABX-0073,REVIVE,Stem Cells in Regenerative Biology and Medicine(2010), Institut Pasteur [Paris], Institut Pasteur [Paris]-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and Collège doctoral [Sorbonne universités]
- Subjects
0303 health sciences ,Methylation ,Biology ,Embryonic stem cell ,Chromatin ,Cell biology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Histone H3 ,0302 clinical medicine ,Transcription (biology) ,Epigenetics ,Transcription factor ,Reprogramming ,[SDV.BDD]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Development Biology ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,030304 developmental biology - Abstract
Histone H3 Lysine 9 (H3K9) methylation, a characteristic mark of heterochromatin, is progressively implemented during development to contribute to cell fate restriction as differentiation proceeds. For instance, in pluripotent mouse Embryonic Stem (ES) cells the global levels of H3K9 methylation are rather low and increase only upon differentiation. Conversely, H3K9 methylation represents an epigenetic barrier for reprogramming somatic cells back to pluripotency. How global H3K9 methylation levels are coupled with the acquisition and loss of pluripotency remains largely unknown. Here, we identify SUV39H1, a major H3K9 di- and tri-methylase, as an indirect target of the pluripotency network of Transcription Factors (TFs). We find that pluripotency TFs, principally OCT4, activate the expression of an uncharacterized antisense long non-coding RNA to Suv39h1, which we name Suv39h1as. In turn, Suv39h1as downregulates Suv39h1 transcription in cis via a mechanism involving the modulation of the chromatin status of the locus. The targeted deletion of the Suv39h1as promoter region triggers increased SUV39H1 expression and H3K9me2 and H3K9me3 levels, leading to accelerated and more efficient commitment into differentiation. We report, therefore, a simple genetic circuitry coupling the global levels of H3K9 methylation to pluripotency in mouse ES cells.
- Published
- 2021