The acetyltransferase p300 is recruited in trans to multiple enhancer sites by lncSmad7

The histone acetyltransferase p300 (also known as KAT3B) is a general transcriptional coactivator that introduces the H3K27ac mark on enhancers triggering their activation and gene transcription. Genome-wide screenings demonstrated that a large fraction of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) plays a role in cellular processes and organ development although the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear (1,2). We found 122 lncRNAs that interacts directly with p300. In depth analysis of one of these, lncSmad7, is required to maintain ESC self-renewal and it interacts to the C-terminal domain of p300. lncSmad7 also contains predicted RNA-DNA Hoogsteen forming base pairing. Combined Chromatin Isolation by RNA precipitation followed by sequencing (ChIRP-seq) together with CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis of the target sites demonstrate that lncSmad7 binds and recruits p300 to enhancers in trans, to trigger enhancer acetylation and transcriptional activation of its target genes. Thus, these results unveil a new mechanism by which p300 is recruited to the genome

Intragenic DNA methylation prevents spurious transcription initiation.

In mammals, DNA methylation occurs mainly at CpG dinucleotides. Methylation of the promoter suppresses gene expression, but the functional role of gene-body DNA methylation in highly expressed genes has yet to be clarified. Here we show that, in mouse embryonic stem cells, Dnmt3b-dependent intragenic DNA methylation protects the gene body from spurious RNA polymerase II entry and cryptic transcription initiation. Using different genome-wide approaches, we demonstrate that this Dnmt3b function is dependent on its enzymatic activity and recruitment to the gene body by H3K36me3. Furthermore, the spurious transcripts can either be degraded by the RNA exosome complex or capped, polyadenylated, and delivered to the ribosome to produce aberrant proteins. Elongating RNA polymerase II therefore triggers an epigenetic crosstalk mechanism that involves SetD2, H3K36me3, Dnmt3b and DNA methylation to ensure the fidelity of gene transcription initiation, with implications for intragenic hypomethylation in cance

Myc and Max Genome-Wide Binding Sites Analysis Links the Myc Regulatory Network with the Polycomb and the Core Pluripotency Networks in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

<div><p>Myc is a master transcription factor that has been demonstrated to be required for embryonic stem cell (ESC) pluripotency, self-renewal, and inhibition of differentiation. Although recent works have identified several Myc-targets in ESCs, the list of Myc binding sites is largely incomplete due to the low sensitivity and specificity of the antibodies available. To systematically identify Myc binding sites in mouse ESCs, we used a stringent streptavidin-based genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP-Seq) approach with biotin-tagged Myc (Bio-Myc) as well as a ChIP-Seq of the Myc binding partner Max. This analysis identified 4325 Myc binding sites, of which 2885 were newly identified. The identified sites overlap with more than 85% of the Max binding sites and are enriched for H3K4me3-positive promoters and active enhancers. Remarkably, this analysis unveils that Myc/Max regulates chromatin modifiers and transcriptional regulators involved in stem cell self-renewal linking the Myc-centered network with the Polycomb and the Core networks. These results provide insights into the contribution of Myc and Max in maintaining stem cell self-renewal and keeping these cells in an undifferentiated state.</p></div

The transcriptional regulator ZNF398 mediates pluripotency and epithelial character downstream of TGF-beta in human PSCs

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have the capacity to give rise to all differentiated cells of the adult. TGF-beta is used routinely for expansion of conventional hPSCs as flat epithelial colonies expressing the transcription factors POU5F1/OCT4, NANOG, SOX2. Here we report a global analysis of the transcriptional programme controlled by TGF-beta followed by an unbiased gain-of-function screening in multiple hPSC lines to identify factors mediating TGF-beta activity. We identify a quartet of transcriptional regulators promoting hPSC self-renewal including ZNF398, a human-specific mediator of pluripotency and epithelial character in hPSCs. Mechanistically, ZNF398 binds active promoters and enhancers together with SMAD3 and the histone acetyltransferase EP300, enabling transcription of TGF-beta targets. In the context of somatic cell reprogramming, inhibition of ZNF398 abolishes activation of pluripotency and epithelial genes and colony formation. Our findings have clear implications for the generation of bona fide hPSCs for regenerative medicine.</p

3plex enables deep computational investigation of triplex forming lncRNAs

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) regulate gene expression through different molecular mechanisms, including DNA binding via the formation of RNA:DNA:DNA triple helices (TPXs). Despite the increasing amount of experimental evidence, TPXs investigation remains challenging. Here we present 3plex, a software able to predict TPX interactions in silico. Given an RNA sequence and a set of DNA sequences, 3plex integrates 1) Hoogsteen pairing rules that describe the biochemical interactions between RNA and DNA nucleotides, 2) RNA secondary structure prediction and 3) determination of the TPX thermal stability derived from a collection of TPX experimental evidences. We systematically collected and uniformly re-analysed published experimental lncRNA binding sites on human and mouse genomes. We used these data to evaluate 3plex performance and showed that its specific features allow a reliable identification of TPX interactions. We compared 3plex with the other available software and obtained comparable or even better accuracy at a fraction of the computation time. Interestingly, by inspecting collected data with 3plex we found that TPXs tend to be shorter and more degenerated than previously expected and that the majority of analysed lncRNAs can directly bind to the genome by TPX formation. Those results suggest that an important fraction of lncRNAs can exert its biological function through this mechanism. The software is available at https://github.com/molinerisLab/3plex

The genes identified by Biotag-Myc are regulated by Myc in ES cells.

<p>(A) RT-PCR analysis of Myc and NMyc expression in double knockdown ES cells. The results are shown as a fold difference. (B) Western blot analysis of Myc protein level in double-knockdown ES cells. β-actin was used as a loading control. (C) RT-PCR analysis of the indicated transcripts upon a double knockdown (dKD) of Myc proteins. The Suz12 and Ezh2 genes were used as positive controls, and the H19 and Kdr genes were used as negative controls. The results are shown as the fold difference.</p