Balance Between Acetylation and Methylation of Histone H3 Lysine 9
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MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BIOLOGY, Mar. 2003, p. 1614–1622 Vol. 23, No. 5 0270-7306/03/$08.00ϩ0 DOI: 10.1128/MCB.23.5.1614–1622.2003 Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Balance between Acetylation and Methylation of Histone H3 Lysine 9 on the E2F-Responsive Dihydrofolate Reductase Promoter Estelle Nicolas, Christine Roumillac, and Didier Trouche* Laboratoire de Biologie Mole´culaire Eucaryote, UMR 5099 CNRS, IFR 109, Toulouse, France Received 31 October 2002/Accepted 10 December 2002 Epigenetic marks that specify silent heterochromatic domains in eucaryotic genomes include methylation of histone H3 lysine 9. Strikingly, active loci in the vicinity of silent domains are sometimes characterized by acetylation of histone H3 lysine 9, suggesting that the balance between these two competitive modifications is important for the establishment of specific chromatin structures. Some euchromatic genes, targeted by the retinoblastoma protein Rb, are also believed to be regulated by histone H3 lysine 9 methylation. Here, we study the dihydrofolate reductase promoter, which is repressed in G0 and at the beginning of G1 by p107 or p130, two Rb-related proteins. We found that these two pocket proteins share with Rb the ability to associate with the histone methyl transferase SUV39H1. SUV39H1 can be recruited to the E2F transcription factor and functions as a transcriptional corepressor. With ChIP assays followed by real-time PCR, we showed that K9 of histone H3 evolves from a hypermethylated state in G0 to a hyperacetylated state at the G1/S transition. Taken together, these results indicate that the temporal regulation of euchromatic promoters may involve controlling the balance between methylation and acetylation of histone H3 lysine 9, a feature previously described for the spatial regulation of chromatin function. Many genes which encode proteins required for S-phase teins function as transcriptional repressors (11) through a progression are specifically expressed at the end of G1 and at mechanism involving, at least in part, histone deacetylases the G1/S transition. Some of these genes are controlled by the (HDACs) (3, 16, 17). Consistent with that, chromatin immu- E2F transcription factor. This transcription factor, a hetero- noprecipitation (ChIP) experiments have confirmed that his- dimer, is composed of an E2F protein and a DP protein (19). tones are largely deacetylated in G0 on many E2F-regulated So far, six E2F proteins (E2F1 to -6) and two DP proteins promoters (30). Furthermore, cell cycle-dependent recruit- (DP1 and -2) have been described. E2F1 to -5 share a C- ment of HDAC1 to the E2F-regulated dihydrofolate reductase terminal domain which possesses the ability to activate tran- (DHFR) promoter has recently been shown (9). scription. This domain also contains the binding site for a In addition, we and others have shown that transcriptional family of proteins (called pocket proteins) which are critical repression by Rb could also be mediated through the recruit- regulators of E2F activity (20). The founding member of this ment of the histone methyl transferase (HMT) SUV39H1 (24, family is the product of the retinoblastoma susceptibility gene, 31). The cell cycle regulation of some E2F-regulated genes the Rb protein. Rb binds specifically to E2F1, E2F2, E2F3, and could thus involve a complex interplay between histone meth- with lower affinity to E2F4, whereas the two other pocket ylation and acetylation. proteins, p107 and p130, both target E2F4 and E2F5. Strikingly, these two modifications also play a crucial role in Binding of pocket proteins to the E2F transcription factor is the establishment and maintenance of chromatin domains. cell cycle regulated. In resting cells or in cells at the beginning Methylation on lysines is a posttranslational modification of of G1, Rb, p107, and p130 are in an active hypophosphorylated nucleosomal histones which has been known for some time state and are recruited to E2F-regulated promoters through (21; for a recent review, see reference 33) but which has re- their interaction with E2F. When cells progress into S phase, ceived renewed attention since the molecular characterization pocket proteins are gradually phosphorylated by cyclins/cdk’s of the first HMT, SUV39H1 (27). SUV39H1 was known as the (26). These phosphorylation events lead to their inactivation mammalian homologue of Schizosaccharomyces pombe or Dro- and the appearance of some E2F transcription factor not sophila melanogaster proteins required for heterochromatin si- bound by a pocket protein (called free E2F). This free E2F can lencing (1). SUV39H1 methylates specifically K9 of histone H3 thus activate transcription of E2F-regulated genes, thereby (27). This methylation creates a binding site on chromatin for allowing cell progression into S phase. Consequently, E2F the members of the HP1 (heterochromatin protein 1) family binding sites are believed to be occupied in G and at the 0 (2, 14, 22), which are also required for silencing at heterochro- beginning of G by a complex containing the E2F transcription 1 matic loci (reviewed in reference 13). These proteins recognize factor and a pocket protein, and later in G , by free E2F (19). 1 the methylated lysine by use of their chromodomain. Thus, When recruited on E2F-regulated promoters, pocket pro- heterochromatin silencing is believed to involve methylation of lysine 9 of histone H3 by SUV39H1, followed by HP1 recruit- ment and, subsequently, transcriptional repression (13). Ge- * Corresponding author. Mailing address: LBME, UMR 5099 netic experiments indicate that pericentric heterochromatin CNRS, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex, France. Phone: 33 5 61 33 59 15. Fax: 33 5 61 33 58 86. E-mail: trouche@ibcg silencing is also dependent on HDACs (7, 10). Furthermore, .biotoul.fr. the specification of silent versus active domains in chromatin 1614 VOL. 23, 2003 HISTONE MODIFICATIONS ON THE DHFR PROMOTER 1615 often involves the balance between two competitive modifica- sequences of the oligonucleotides were as follows: wild-type E2F, 5ЈCCGG Ј tions of histone H3 K9, methylation and acetylation (12, 15). GAATTCGCCGACGCGCTTGGCGGGAGATAGAAAAGT3 ; mutated E2F, 5ЈCCGGGAATTCGCCGACGCGCTTGTATGGAGATAGAAAAGT3Ј. This has led to the proposal that during the propagation of Ten microliters of streptavidin-agarose beads was then added for 1 h. Beads heterochromatin, HDACs function first to deacetylate K9, were washed three times with washing buffer (50 mM Tris [pH 8], 0.4% NP-40, thereby allowing its subsequent methylation by SUV39H1 (33). 150 mM NaCl, 5 mM MgCl2, supplemented with protease inhibitors). A similar mechanism has already been suggested for E2F- Bound proteins were subjected to an HMT assay as described previously (31) regulated promoters (24). However, little is known about the or to Western blotting with anti-Myc 9E10 (Roche Diagnostics), anti-p107 C-18, anti-p130 C20 (Santa Cruz Biotechnology), anti-Flag M2 (Sigma), or anti-hem- cell cycle regulation of histone H3 K9 modifications on E2F- agglutinin (HA) 16B12 (Babco) antibody. responsive promoters. Here we studied the DHFR promoter, Plasmids. pGEMT-DHFR and pGEMT-GAPDH were kind gifts from A. which is controlled by p107 or p130 and which has been the Harel-Bellan (9). pCMVNeoBam p107, pGEX-DP1 59-410, pGEX-E2F1 89- focus of a recent detailed study (9). 437, pCMVNeoBam Rb 379-928, pGEX p107 252-816, pGEX Rb 379-928, pCMVGT-E2F4, pCMV myc-E2F4, and empty vectors were described previ- We found that both p107 and p130 associate with SUV39H1, ously (8, 17, 18). pGEX-E2F4 and pGEX-E2F5 were kind gifts from C. Sardet. as does Rb. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SUV39H1 can pCMV myc-SUV39H1 and pCMV Flag-EMT1 were kind gifts from T. Jenuwein function as a transcriptional corepressor for p107 and p130. (27) and Y. Nakatani (25), respectively. pCMV HA-SUV39H1, pCMV HA- Studies of histone modifications on the DHFR promoter indi- SUV39H1 ⌬SET, pCMVlacZ, and Gal4-luc vectors were described previously cate that methylation of K9 can be detected in serum-starved (31). Details of constructions are available upon request. ChIP assays. ChIP assays were performed essentially as previously described 3T3 cells and decreases in cells at the G1/S transition. Con- (9). Briefly, following formaldehyde cross-linking in living cells, chromatin was versely, acetylation of histone H3 K9 increases from G0 to purified and subjected to sonication to obtain a mean length of DNA fragments G1/S. Taken together, these data indicate that the temporal of about 500 base pairs. Sonicated chromatin was then divided into three samples regulation of the DHFR promoter involves a shift from the and immunoprecipitated with 10 l of anti-acetyl histone H3 (K9), anti-acetyl histone H3 (K14), or anti-dimethyl histone H3 (Lys9) antibody (all from Upstate methylated to the acetylated isoforms of histone H3 lysine 9. Biotechnology) or without antibody as a control. After cross-link reversion and DNA recovery, samples were analyzed by quantitative PCR (ICyclerQ; Bio-Rad) with Sybr green (Sigma) and Platinum Quantitative PCR Supermix-UDG (In- MATERIALS AND METHODS vitrogen) to detect DHFR promoter or glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydroge- Cell culture and transfection. U2OS, NIH 3T3, and HeLa cells were main- nase (GAPDH) sequences as described previously (9). tained in Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium supplemented with 10% fetal calf The amount of DHFR or GAPDH sequence present at each point was cal- serum (FCS), antibiotics, and 1% sodium pyruvate. 3T3 cells from Suv39H culated relative to a standard curve obtained using serial dilutions of pGEMT- knockout (KO) mice or controls were maintained as described above but in the DHFR or pGEMT-GAPDH vector, respectively. Three different dilutions of presence of 0.2% -mercaptoethanol and 1% nonessential amino acids. Jurkat each sample (immunoprecipitates and inputs) were analyzed in parallel. After cells were maintained in RPMI medium supplemented with 10% FCS and calculating the mean value for these three dilutions, the efficiency of the immu- antibiotics. All media were from Gibco-BRL.