Novel CTCF binding at a site in exon1A of BCL6 is associated with active histone marks and a transcriptionally active locus

BCL6 is a zinc-finger transcriptional repressor, which is highly expressed in germinal centre B-cells and is essential for germinal centre formation and T-dependent antibody responses. Constitutive BCL6 expression is sufficient to produce lymphomas in mice. Deregulated expression of BCL6 due to chromosomal rearrangements, mutations of a negative autoregulatory site in the BCL6 promoter region and aberrant post-translational modifications have been detected in a number of human lymphomas. Tight lineage and temporal regulation of BCL6 is, therefore, required for normal immunity, and abnormal regulation occurs in lymphomas. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a multi-functional chromatin regulator, which has recently been shown to bind in a methylation-sensitive manner to sites within the BCL6 first intron. We demonstrate a novel CTCF-binding site in BCL6 exon1A within a potential CpG island, which is unmethylated both in cell lines and in primary lymphoma samples. CTCF binding, which was found in BCL6-expressing cell lines, correlated with the presence of histone variant H2A.Z and active histone marks, suggesting that CTCF induces chromatin modification at a transcriptionally active BCL6 locus. CTCF binding to exon1A was required to maintain BCL6 expression in germinal centre cells by avoiding BCL6-negative autoregulation. Silencing of CTCF in BCL6-expressing cells reduced BCL6 mRNA and protein expression, which is sufficient to induce B-cell terminal differentiation toward plasma cells. Moreover, lack of CTCF binding to exon1A shifts the BCL6 local chromatin from an active to a repressive state. This work demonstrates that, in contexts in which BCL6 is expressed, CTCF binding to BCL6 exon1A associates with epigenetic modifications indicative of transcriptionally open chromatin

The Coiled Coils of Cohesin Are Conserved in Animals, but Not In Yeast

The SMC proteins are involved in DNA repair, chromosome condensation, and sister chromatid cohesion throughout Eukaryota. Long, anti-parallel coiled coils are a prominent feature of SMC proteins, and are thought to serve as spacer rods to provide an elongated structure and to separate domains. We reported recently that the coiled coils of mammalian condensin (SMC2/4) showed moderate sequence divergence (approximately 10-15%) consistent with their functioning as spacer rods. The coiled coils of mammalian cohesins (SMC1/3), however, were very highly constrained, with amino acid sequence divergence typically <0.5%. These coiled coils are among the most highly conserved mammalian proteins, suggesting that they make extensive contacts over their entire surface.Here, we broaden our initial analysis of condensin and cohesin to include additional vertebrate and invertebrate organisms and multiple species of yeast. We found that the coiled coils of SMC1/3 are highly constrained in Drosophila and other insects, and more generally across all animal species. However, in yeast they are no more constrained than the coils of SMC2/4 and Ndc80/Nuf2p, suggesting that they are serving primarily as spacer rods.SMC1/3 functions for sister chromatid cohesion in all species. Since its coiled coils apparently serve only as spacer rods in yeast, it is likely that this is sufficient for sister chromatid cohesion in all species. This suggests an additional function in animals that constrains the sequence of the coiled coils. Several recent studies have demonstrated that cohesin has a role in gene expression in post-mitotic neurons of Drosophila, and other animal cells. Some variants of human Cornelia de Lange Syndrome involve mutations in human SMC1/3. We suggest that the role of cohesin in gene expression may involve intimate contact of the coiled coils of SMC1/3, and impose the constraint on sequence divergence

The chromatin remodelling enzymes SNF2H and SNF2L position nucleosomes adjacent to CTCF and other transcription

Within the genomes of metazoans, nucleosomes are highly organised adjacent to the binding sites for a subset of transcription factors. Here we have sought to investigate which chromatin remodelling enzymes are responsible for this. We find that the ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling enzyme SNF2H plays a major role organising arrays of nucleosomes adjacent to the binding sites for the architectural transcription factor CTCF sites and acts to promote CTCF binding. At many other factor binding sites SNF2H and the related enzyme SNF2L contribute to nucleosome organisation. The action of SNF2H at CTCF sites is functionally important as depletion of CTCF or SNF2H affects transcription of a common group of genes. This suggests that chromatin remodelling ATPase's most closely related to the Drosophila ISWI protein contribute to the function of many human gene regulatory elements

Cohesin Protects Genes against γH2AX Induced by DNA Double-Strand Breaks

Chromatin undergoes major remodeling around DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) to promote repair and DNA damage response (DDR) activation. We recently reported a high-resolution map of γH2AX around multiple breaks on the human genome, using a new cell-based DSB inducible system. In an attempt to further characterize the chromatin landscape induced around DSBs, we now report the profile of SMC3, a subunit of the cohesin complex, previously characterized as required for repair by homologous recombination. We found that recruitment of cohesin is moderate and restricted to the immediate vicinity of DSBs in human cells. In addition, we show that cohesin controls γH2AX distribution within domains. Indeed, as we reported previously for transcription, cohesin binding antagonizes γH2AX spreading. Remarkably, depletion of cohesin leads to an increase of γH2AX at cohesin-bound genes, associated with a decrease in their expression level after DSB induction. We propose that, in agreement with their function in chromosome architecture, cohesin could also help to isolate active genes from some chromatin remodelling and modifications such as the ones that occur when a DSB is detected on the genome

CTCF cis-Regulates Trinucleotide Repeat Instability in an Epigenetic Manner: A Novel Basis for Mutational Hot Spot Determination

At least 25 inherited disorders in humans result from microsatellite repeat expansion. Dramatic variation in repeat instability occurs at different disease loci and between different tissues; however, cis-elements and trans-factors regulating the instability process remain undefined. Genomic fragments from the human spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 (SCA7) locus, containing a highly unstable CAG tract, were previously introduced into mice to localize cis-acting “instability elements,” and revealed that genomic context is required for repeat instability. The critical instability-inducing region contained binding sites for CTCF—a regulatory factor implicated in genomic imprinting, chromatin remodeling, and DNA conformation change. To evaluate the role of CTCF in repeat instability, we derived transgenic mice carrying SCA7 genomic fragments with CTCF binding-site mutations. We found that CTCF binding-site mutation promotes triplet repeat instability both in the germ line and in somatic tissues, and that CpG methylation of CTCF binding sites can further destabilize triplet repeat expansions. As CTCF binding sites are associated with a number of highly unstable repeat loci, our findings suggest a novel basis for demarcation and regulation of mutational hot spots and implicate CTCF in the modulation of genetic repeat instability

Cohesin is required for higher-order chromatin conformation at the imprinted IGF2-H19 locus

Cohesin is a chromatin-associated protein complex that mediates sister chromatid cohesion by connecting replicated DNA molecules. Cohesin also has important roles in gene regulation, but the mechanistic basis of this function is poorly understood. In mammalian genomes, cohesin co-localizes with CCCTC binding factor (CTCF), a zinc finger protein implicated in multiple gene regulatory events. At the imprinted IGF2-H19 locus, CTCF plays an important role in organizing allele-specific higher-order chromatin conformation and functions as an enhancer blocking transcriptional insulator. Here we have used chromosome conformation capture (3C) assays and RNAi-mediated depletion of cohesin to address whether cohesin affects higher order chromatin conformation at the IGF2-H19 locus in human cells. Our data show that cohesin has a critical role in maintaining CTCF-mediated chromatin conformation at the locus and that disruption of this conformation coincides with changes in IGF2 expression. We show that the cohesin-dependent, higher-order chromatin conformation of the locus exists in both G1 and G2 phases of the cell cycle and is therefore independent of cohesin's function in sister chromatid cohesion. We propose that cohesin can mediate interactions between DNA molecules in cis to insulate genes through the formation of chromatin loops, analogous to the cohesin mediated interaction with sister chromatids in trans to establish cohesion

The D4Z4 Macrosatellite Repeat Acts as a CTCF and A-Type Lamins-Dependent Insulator in Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy

Both genetic and epigenetic alterations contribute to Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy (FSHD), which is linked to the shortening of the array of D4Z4 repeats at the 4q35 locus. The consequence of this rearrangement remains enigmatic, but deletion of this 3.3-kb macrosatellite element might affect the expression of the FSHD-associated gene(s) through position effect mechanisms. We investigated this hypothesis by creating a large collection of constructs carrying 1 to >11 D4Z4 repeats integrated into the human genome, either at random sites or proximal to a telomere, mimicking thereby the organization of the 4q35 locus. We show that D4Z4 acts as an insulator that interferes with enhancer–promoter communication and protects transgenes from position effect. This last property depends on both CTCF and A-type Lamins. We further demonstrate that both anti-silencing activity of D4Z4 and CTCF binding are lost upon multimerization of the repeat in cells from FSHD patients compared to control myoblasts from healthy individuals, suggesting that FSHD corresponds to a gain-of-function of CTCF at the residual D4Z4 repeats. We propose that contraction of the D4Z4 array contributes to FSHD physio-pathology by acting as a CTCF-dependent insulator in patients

A Zebrafish Model of Roberts Syndrome Reveals That Esco2 Depletion Interferes with Development by Disrupting the Cell Cycle

The human developmental diseases Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) and Roberts Syndrome (RBS) are both caused by mutations in proteins responsible for sister chromatid cohesion. Cohesion is mediated by a multi-subunit complex called cohesin, which is loaded onto chromosomes by NIPBL. Once on chromosomes, cohesin binding is stabilized in S phase upon acetylation by ESCO2. CdLS is caused by heterozygous mutations in NIPBL or cohesin subunits SMC1A and SMC3, and RBS is caused by homozygous mutations in ESCO2. The genetic cause of both CdLS and RBS reside within the chromosome cohesion apparatus, and therefore they are collectively known as “cohesinopathies”. However, the two syndromes have distinct phenotypes, with differences not explained by their shared ontology. In this study, we have used the zebrafish model to distinguish between developmental pathways downstream of cohesin itself, or its acetylase ESCO2. Esco2 depleted zebrafish embryos exhibit features that resemble RBS, including mitotic defects, craniofacial abnormalities and limb truncations. A microarray analysis of Esco2-depleted embryos revealed that different subsets of genes are regulated downstream of Esco2 when compared with cohesin subunit Rad21. Genes downstream of Rad21 showed significant enrichment for transcriptional regulators, while Esco2-regulated genes were more likely to be involved the cell cycle or apoptosis. RNA in situ hybridization showed that runx1, which is spatiotemporally regulated by cohesin, is expressed normally in Esco2-depleted embryos. Furthermore, myca, which is downregulated in rad21 mutants, is upregulated in Esco2-depleted embryos. High levels of cell death contributed to the morphology of Esco2-depleted embryos without affecting specific developmental pathways. We propose that cell proliferation defects and apoptosis could be the primary cause of the features of RBS. Our results show that mutations in different elements of the cohesion apparatus have distinct developmental outcomes, and provide insight into why CdLS and RBS are distinct diseases

Targeted Sister Chromatid Cohesion by Sir2

The protein complex known as cohesin binds pericentric regions and other sites of eukaryotic genomes to mediate cohesion of sister chromatids. In budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, cohesin also binds silent chromatin, a repressive chromatin structure that functionally resembles heterochromatin of higher eukaryotes. We developed a protein-targeting assay to investigate the mechanistic basis for cohesion of silent chromatin domains. Individual silencing factors were tethered to sites where pairing of sister chromatids could be evaluated by fluorescence microscopy. We report that the evolutionarily conserved Sir2 histone deacetylase, an essential silent chromatin component, was both necessary and sufficient for cohesion. The cohesin genes were required, but the Sir2 deacetylase activity and other silencing factors were not. Binding of cohesin to silent chromatin was achieved with a small carboxyl terminal fragment of Sir2. Taken together, these data define a unique role for Sir2 in cohesion of silent chromatin that is distinct from the enzyme's role as a histone deacetylase

RAD21 Cooperates with Pluripotency Transcription Factors in the Maintenance of Embryonic Stem Cell Identity

For self-renewal, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) require the expression of specific transcription factors accompanied by a particular chromosome organization to maintain a balance between pluripotency and the capacity for rapid differentiation. However, how transcriptional regulation is linked to chromosome organization in ESCs is not well understood. Here we show that the cohesin component RAD21 exhibits a functional role in maintaining ESC identity through association with the pluripotency transcriptional network. ChIP-seq analyses of RAD21 reveal an ESC specific cohesin binding pattern that is characterized by CTCF independent co-localization of cohesin with pluripotency related transcription factors Oct4, Nanog, Sox2, Esrrb and Klf4. Upon ESC differentiation, most of these binding sites disappear and instead new CTCF independent RAD21 binding sites emerge, which are enriched for binding sites of transcription factors implicated in early differentiation. Furthermore, knock-down of RAD21 causes expression changes that are similar to expression changes after Nanog depletion, demonstrating the functional relevance of the RAD21 - pluripotency transcriptional network association. Finally, we show that Nanog physically interacts with the cohesin or cohesin interacting proteins STAG1 and WAPL further substantiating this association. Based on these findings we propose that a dynamic placement of cohesin by pluripotency transcription factors contributes to a chromosome organization supporting the ESC expression program