MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within active genes and accessible chromatin in the nervous system
TL;DR: In this paper, a quantitative, genome-wide analysis of 5hmC, 5-methylcytosine (5mC), and gene expression in differentiated CNS cell types in vivo is presented.
Abstract: SUMMARY The high level of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) present in neuronal genomes suggests that mechanisms interpreting 5hmC in the CNS may differ from those present in embryonic stem cells. Here, we present quantitative, genome-wide analysis of 5hmC, 5-methylcytosine (5mC), and gene expression in differentiated CNS cell types in vivo. We report that 5hmC is enriched in active genes and that, surprisingly, strong depletion of 5mC is observed over these regions. The contribution of these epigenetic marks to gene expression depends critically on cell type. We identify methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) as the major 5hmC-binding protein in the brain and demonstrate that MeCP2 binds 5hmC- and 5mC-containing DNA with similar high affinities. The Rett-syndrome-causing mutation R133C preferentially inhibits 5hmC binding. These findings support a model in which 5hmC and MeCP2 constitute a cell-specific epigenetic mechanism for regulation of chromatin structure and gene expression.
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TL;DR: The results indicate that the TET enzymes and 5hmC play essential roles in ensuring genome integrity and localizes to sites of DNA damage and repair.
144 citations
Cites background from "MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..."
...…or maintenance of the local chromatin landscape to allow access of other factors, since 5hmC is strongly correlated with an open chromatin conformation (Mellén et al., 2012; Mendonca et al., 2014), whereas 5mC is correlated with repressed chromatin (reviewed in Miranda and Jones, 2007)....
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...Possible mechanisms for this action could include modification or maintenance of the local chromatin landscape to allow access of other factors, since 5hmC is strongly correlated with an open chromatin conformation (Mellén et al., 2012; Mendonca et al., 2014), whereas 5mC is correlated with repressed chromatin (reviewed in Miranda and Jones, 2007)....
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TL;DR: It is found that Zic1 and Zic2 are required for coordinating mature neuronal gene expression patterns necessary for neuronal differentiation and function.
Abstract: To identify chromatin mechanisms of neuronal differentiation, we characterized chromatin accessibility and gene expression in cerebellar granule neurons (CGNs) of the developing mouse. We used DNase-seq to map accessibility of cis-regulatory elements and RNA-seq to profile transcript abundance across postnatal stages of neuronal differentiation in vivo and in culture. We observed thousands of chromatin accessibility changes as CGNs differentiated, and verified, using H3K27ac ChIP-seq, reporter gene assays and CRISPR-mediated activation, that many of these regions function as neuronal enhancers. Motif discovery in differentially accessible chromatin regions suggested a previously unknown role for the Zic family of transcription factors in CGN maturation. We confirmed the association of Zic with these elements by ChIP-seq and found, using knockdown, that Zic1 and Zic2 are required for coordinating mature neuronal gene expression patterns. Together, our data reveal chromatin dynamics at thousands of gene regulatory elements that facilitate the gene expression patterns necessary for neuronal differentiation and function.
141 citations
TL;DR: Current studies on the role of 5mC and 5hmC in regulating gene expression and the roles of these modifications in detection of pathological states (type 2 diabetes, Rett syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and teratogen exposure) will be discussed.
Abstract: Epigenetics refers to a variety of processes that have heritable effects on gene expression programs without changes in DNA sequence. Key players in epigenetic control are chemical modifications to DNA, histone, and non-histone chromosomal proteins, which establish a complex regulatory network that controls genome function. Methylation of DNA at the fifth position of cytosine in CpG dinucleotides (5-methylcytosine, 5mC), which is carried out by DNA methyltransferases, is commonly associated with gene silencing. However, high resolution mapping of DNA methylation has revealed that 5mC is enriched in exonic nucleosomes and at intron-exon junctions, suggesting a role of DNA methylation in the relationship between elongation and RNA splicing. Recent studies have increased our knowledge of another modification of DNA, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), which is a product of the ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins converting 5mC to 5hmC. In this review, we will highlight current studies on the role of 5mC and 5hmC in regulating gene expression (using some aspects of brain development as examples). Further the roles of these modifications in detection of pathological states (type 2 diabetes, Rett syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and teratogen exposure) will be discussed.
140 citations
Cites background from "MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..."
...Moreover, the association of 5hmC methyl marks with active chromatin regions [27,36] has challenged the general concept....
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...transcriptionally active chromatin domains [36] and that MeCP2 is an interacting protein partner of TET1 protein [46] , suggesting its role in transcriptional activation....
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...MeCP2 is able to bind to both 5mC and 5hmC [36]....
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...Among the MBPs, MeCP2 has been shown to bind to both 5mC and 5hmC with high affinity and was shown to be a major 5hmC binding protein in the brain [36]....
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated that SIRT6 functions as a chromatin regulator safeguarding the balance between pluripotency and differentiation through Tet-mediated production of 5hmC.
Abstract: How embryonic stem cells (ESCs) commit to specific cell lineages and yield all cell types of a fully formed organism remains a major question. ESC differentiation is accompanied by large-scale histone and DNA modifications, but the relations between these epigenetic categories are not understood. Here we demonstrate the interplay between the histone deacetylase sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) and the ten-eleven translocation enzymes (TETs). SIRT6 targets acetylated histone H3 at Lys 9 and 56 (H3K9ac and H3K56ac), while TETs convert 5-methylcytosine into 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC). ESCs derived from Sirt6 knockout (S6KO) mice are skewed towards neuroectoderm development. This phenotype involves derepression of OCT4, SOX2 and NANOG, which causes an upregulation of TET-dependent production of 5hmC. Genome-wide analysis revealed neural genes marked with 5hmC in S6KO ESCs, thereby implicating TET enzymes in the neuroectoderm-skewed differentiation phenotype. We demonstrate that SIRT6 functions as a chromatin regulator safeguarding the balance between pluripotency and differentiation through Tet-mediated production of 5hmC.
139 citations
TL;DR: The first genome-wide mapping of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in T cells during sequential steps of lineage commitment in the thymus and the periphery is presented, finding that 5hmC is enriched at gene bodies and cell type-specific enhancers, that its levels in the gene body correlate strongly with gene expression and histone modifications, and that its Levels change dynamically during the course of T-cell development and differentiation.
Abstract: The discovery of Ten Eleven Translocation proteins, enzymes that oxidize 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in DNA, has revealed novel mechanisms for the regulation of DNA methylation. We have mapped 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) at different stages of T-cell development in the thymus and T-cell differentiation in the periphery. We show that 5hmC is enriched in the gene body of highly expressed genes at all developmental stages and that its presence correlates positively with gene expression. Further emphasizing the connection with gene expression, we find that 5hmC is enriched in active thymus-specific enhancers and that genes encoding key transcriptional regulators display high intragenic 5hmC levels in precursor cells at those developmental stages where they exert a positive effect. Our data constitute a valuable resource that will facilitate detailed analysis of the role of 5hmC in T-cell development and differentiation.
135 citations
Cites background from "MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..."
...5hmC enrichment over the gene body of highly expressed genes has also been noted in mouse ES cells (30), neuronal cells/ tissues (29), and differentiating sperm cells (44) (reviewed in ref....
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...affect chromatin conformation and gene expression by recruiting “reader” proteins that recognize these modifications (29, 49, 50)....
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...1C], reminiscent of its distribution in neurons (29) and in embryonic stem (ES) cells (27, 30)....
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References
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TL;DR: A method based on the negative binomial distribution, with variance and mean linked by local regression, is proposed and an implementation, DESeq, as an R/Bioconductor package is presented.
Abstract: High-throughput sequencing assays such as RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq or barcode counting provide quantitative readouts in the form of count data. To infer differential signal in such data correctly and with good statistical power, estimation of data variability throughout the dynamic range and a suitable error model are required. We propose a method based on the negative binomial distribution, with variance and mean linked by local regression and present an implementation, DESeq, as an R/Bioconductor package.
13,356 citations
TL;DR: Although >90% of uniquely mapped reads fell within known exons, the remaining data suggest new and revised gene models, including changed or additional promoters, exons and 3′ untranscribed regions, as well as new candidate microRNA precursors.
Abstract: We have mapped and quantified mouse transcriptomes by deeply sequencing them and recording how frequently each gene is represented in the sequence sample (RNA-Seq). This provides a digital measure of the presence and prevalence of transcripts from known and previously unknown genes. We report reference measurements composed of 41–52 million mapped 25-base-pair reads for poly(A)-selected RNA from adult mouse brain, liver and skeletal muscle tissues. We used RNA standards to quantify transcript prevalence and to test the linear range of transcript detection, which spanned five orders of magnitude. Although >90% of uniquely mapped reads fell within known exons, the remaining data suggest new and revised gene models, including changed or additional promoters, exons and 3′ untranscribed regions, as well as new candidate microRNA precursors. RNA splice events, which are not readily measured by standard gene expression microarray or serial analysis of gene expression methods, were detected directly by mapping splice-crossing sequence reads. We observed 1.45 × 10 5 distinct splices, and alternative splices were prominent, with 3,500 different genes expressing one or more alternate internal splices. The mRNA population specifies a cell’s identity and helps to govern its present and future activities. This has made transcriptome analysis a general phenotyping method, with expression microarrays of many kinds in routine use. Here we explore the possibility that transcriptome analysis, transcript discovery and transcript refinement can be done effectively in large and complex mammalian genomes by ultra-high-throughput sequencing. Expression microarrays are currently the most widely used methodology for transcriptome analysis, although some limitations persist. These include hybridization and cross-hybridization artifacts 1–3 , dye-based detection issues and design constraints that preclude or seriously limit the detection of RNA splice patterns and previously unmapped genes. These issues have made it difficult for standard array designs to provide full sequence comprehensiveness (coverage of all possible genes, including unknown ones, in large genomes) or transcriptome comprehensiveness (reliable detection of all RNAs of all prevalence classes, including the least abundant ones that are physiologically relevant). Other
12,293 citations
"MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..." refers methods in this paper
...Transcript abundance was measured in fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments mapped (FPKM) similarly to RPKM used in (Mortazavi et al., 2008)....
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Harvard University1, Brigham and Women's Hospital2, University of Wisconsin-Madison3, University of California, Berkeley4, Technical University of Denmark5, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai6, Vienna University of Technology7, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg8, German Cancer Research Center9, University of Milan10, Johns Hopkins University11, University of Washington12, Scripps Research Institute13, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research14, University of Iowa15
TL;DR: Details of the aims and methods of Bioconductor, the collaborative creation of extensible software for computational biology and bioinformatics, and current challenges are described.
Abstract: The Bioconductor project is an initiative for the collaborative creation of extensible software for computational biology and bioinformatics. The goals of the project include: fostering collaborative development and widespread use of innovative software, reducing barriers to entry into interdisciplinary scientific research, and promoting the achievement of remote reproducibility of research results. We describe details of our aims and methods, identify current challenges, compare Bioconductor to other open bioinformatics projects, and provide working examples.
12,142 citations
"MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..." refers methods in this paper
...Finally, differentially expressed genes were identified by performing a negative binomial test using the DESeq package (Anders and Huber, 2010) of R/Bioconductor (Gentleman et al., 2004)....
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TL;DR: It is shown here that TET1, a fusion partner of the MLL gene in acute myeloid leukemia, is a 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)- and Fe(II)-dependent enzyme that catalyzes conversion of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (hmC) in cultured cells and in vitro.
Abstract: DNA cytosine methylation is crucial for retrotransposon silencing and mammalian development. In a computational search for enzymes that could modify 5-methylcytosine (5mC), we identified TET proteins as mammalian homologs of the trypanosome proteins JBP1 and JBP2, which have been proposed to oxidize the 5-methyl group of thymine. We show here that TET1, a fusion partner of the MLL gene in acute myeloid leukemia, is a 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)- and Fe(II)-dependent enzyme that catalyzes conversion of 5mC to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (hmC) in cultured cells and in vitro. hmC is present in the genome of mouse embryonic stem cells, and hmC levels decrease upon RNA interference–mediated depletion of TET1. Thus, TET proteins have potential roles in epigenetic regulation through modification of 5mC to hmC.
5,155 citations
"MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..." refers background in this paper
...This is expected because hydroxylation of 5mC results in 5hmC (Tahiliani et al., 2009), and both of these marks cannot exist on one base....
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TL;DR: This study reports the first disease-causing mutations in RTT and points to abnormal epigenetic regulation as the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of RTT.
Abstract: Rett syndrome (RTT, MIM 312750) is a progressive neurodevelopmental disorder and one of the most common causes of mental retardation in females, with an incidence of 1 in 10,000-15,000 (ref. 2). Patients with classic RTT appear to develop normally until 6-18 months of age, then gradually lose speech and purposeful hand use, and develop microcephaly, seizures, autism, ataxia, intermittent hyperventilation and stereotypic hand movements. After initial regression, the condition stabilizes and patients usually survive into adulthood. As RTT occurs almost exclusively in females, it has been proposed that RTT is caused by an X-linked dominant mutation with lethality in hemizygous males. Previous exclusion mapping studies using RTT families mapped the locus to Xq28 (refs 6,9,10,11). Using a systematic gene screening approach, we have identified mutations in the gene (MECP2 ) encoding X-linked methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) as the cause of some cases of RTT. MeCP2 selectively binds CpG dinucleotides in the mammalian genome and mediates transcriptional repression through interaction with histone deacetylase and the corepressor SIN3A (refs 12,13). In 5 of 21 sporadic patients, we found 3 de novo missense mutations in the region encoding the highly conserved methyl-binding domain (MBD) as well as a de novo frameshift and a de novo nonsense mutation, both of which disrupt the transcription repression domain (TRD). In two affected half-sisters of a RTT family, we found segregation of an additional missense mutation not detected in their obligate carrier mother. This suggests that the mother is a germline mosaic for this mutation. Our study reports the first disease-causing mutations in RTT and points to abnormal epigenetic regulation as the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of RTT.
4,503 citations
"MeCP2 binds to 5hmc enriched within..." refers background in this paper
...…each cell type, the phenotypic consequences of changes in the function of MeCP2, whether as a result of mutation (Adkins and Georgel, 2011; Tao andWu, 2009; Amir et al., 1999) or posttranslational modification (Rutlin and Nelson, 2011; Gonzales et al., 2012), will be cell type and circuit specific....
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