Chromatin context-dependent regulation and epigenetic manipulation of prime editing.

We set out to exhaustively characterize the impact of the cis-chromatin environment on prime editing, a precise genome engineering tool. Using a highly sensitive method for mapping the genomic locations of randomly integrated reporters, we discover massive position effects, exemplified by editing efficiencies ranging from ∼0% to 94% for an identical target site and edit. Position effects on prime editing efficiency are well predicted by chromatin marks, e.g., positively by H3K79me2 and negatively by H3K9me3. Next, we developed a multiplex perturbational framework to assess the interaction of trans-acting factors with the cis-chromatin environment on editing outcomes. Applying this framework to DNA repair factors, we identify HLTF as a context-dependent repressor of prime editing. Finally, several lines of evidence suggest that active transcriptional elongation enhances prime editing. Consistent with this, we show we can robustly decrease or increase the efficiency of prime editing by preceding it with CRISPR-mediated silencing or activation, respectively.

RNA quality control factors nucleate Clr4/SUV39H and trigger constitutive heterochromatin assembly.

In eukaryotes, the Suv39 family of proteins tri-methylate lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me) to form constitutive heterochromatin. However, how Suv39 proteins are nucleated at heterochromatin is not fully described. In the fission yeast, current models posit that Argonaute1-associated small RNAs (sRNAs) nucleate the sole H3K9 methyltransferase, Clr4/SUV39H, to centromeres. Here, we show that in the absence of all sRNAs and H3K9me, the Mtl1 and Red1 core (MTREC)/PAXT complex nucleates Clr4/SUV39H at a heterochromatic long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) at which the two H3K9 deacetylases, Sir2 and Clr3, also accumulate by distinct mechanisms. Iterative cycles of H3K9 deacetylation and methylation spread Clr4/SUV39H from the nucleation center in an sRNA-independent manner, generating a basal H3K9me state. This is acted upon by the RNAi machinery to augment and amplify the Clr4/H3K9me signal at centromeres to establish heterochromatin. Overall, our data reveal that lncRNAs and RNA quality control factors can nucleate heterochromatin and function as epigenetic silencers in eukaryotes.

Recycling of modified H2A-H2B provides short-term memory of chromatin states.

Chromatin landscapes are disrupted during DNA replication and must be restored faithfully to maintain genome regulation and cell identity. The histone H3-H4 modification landscape is restored by parental histone recycling and modification of new histones. How DNA replication impacts on histone H2A-H2B is currently unknown. Here, we measure H2A-H2B modifications and H2A.Z during DNA replication and across the cell cycle using quantitative genomics. We show that H2AK119ub1, H2BK120ub1, and H2A.Z are recycled accurately during DNA replication. Modified H2A-H2B are segregated symmetrically to daughter strands via POLA1 on the lagging strand, but independent of H3-H4 recycling. Post-replication, H2A-H2B modification and variant landscapes are quickly restored, and H2AK119ub1 guides accurate restoration of H3K27me3. This work reveals epigenetic transmission of parental H2A-H2B during DNA replication and identifies cross talk between H3-H4 and H2A-H2B modifications in epigenome propagation. We propose that rapid short-term memory of recycled H2A-H2B modifications facilitates restoration of stable H3-H4 chromatin states.

Single substitution in H3.3G34 alters DNMT3A recruitment to cause progressive neurodegeneration.

Germline histone H3.3 amino acid substitutions, including H3.3G34R/V, cause severe neurodevelopmental syndromes. To understand how these mutations impact brain development, we generated H3.3G34R/V/W knock-in mice and identified strikingly distinct developmental defects for each mutation. H3.3G34R-mutants exhibited progressive microcephaly and neurodegeneration, with abnormal accumulation of disease-associated microglia and concurrent neuronal depletion. G34R severely decreased H3K36me2 on the mutant H3.3 tail, impairing recruitment of DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A and its redistribution on chromatin. These changes were concurrent with sustained expression of complement and other innate immune genes possibly through loss of non-CG (CH) methylation and silencing of neuronal gene promoters through aberrant CG methylation. Complement expression in G34R brains may lead to neuroinflammation possibly accounting for progressive neurodegeneration. Our study reveals that H3.3G34-substitutions have differential impact on the epigenome, which underlie the diverse phenotypes observed, and uncovers potential roles for H3K36me2 and DNMT3A-dependent CH-methylation in modulating synaptic pruning and neuroinflammation in post-natal brains.

Pan-cancer analysis of post-translational modifications reveals shared patterns of protein regulation.

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) play key roles in regulating cell signaling and physiology in both normal and cancer cells. Advances in mass spectrometry enable high-throughput, accurate, and sensitive measurement of PTM levels to better understand their role, prevalence, and crosstalk. Here, we analyze the largest collection of proteogenomics data from 1,110 patients with PTM profiles across 11 cancer types (10 from the National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium [CPTAC]). Our study reveals pan-cancer patterns of changes in protein acetylation and phosphorylation involved in hallmark cancer processes. These patterns revealed subsets of tumors, from different cancer types, including those with dysregulated DNA repair driven by phosphorylation, altered metabolic regulation associated with immune response driven by acetylation, affected kinase specificity by crosstalk between acetylation and phosphorylation, and modified histone regulation. Overall, this resource highlights the rich biology governed by PTMs and exposes potential new therapeutic avenues.

Molecular Epigenetics: Chemical Biology Tools Come of Age.

The field of epigenetics has exploded over the last two decades, revealing an astonishing level of complexity in the way genetic information is stored and accessed in eukaryotes. This expansion of knowledge, which is very much ongoing, has been made possible by the availability of evermore sensitive and precise molecular tools. This review focuses on the increasingly important role that chemistry plays in this burgeoning field. In an effort to make these contributions more accessible to the nonspecialist, we group available chemical approaches into those that allow the covalent structure of the protein and DNA components of chromatin to be manipulated, those that allow the activity of myriad factors that act on chromatin to be controlled, and those that allow the covalent structure and folding of chromatin to be characterized. The application of these tools is illustrated through a series of case studies that highlight how the molecular precision afforded by chemistry is being used to establish causal biochemical relationships at the heart of epigenetic regulation.

Energy-driven genome regulation by ATP-dependent chromatin remodellers.

The packaging of DNA into chromatin in eukaryotes regulates gene transcription, DNA replication and DNA repair. ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling enzymes (re)arrange nucleosomes at the first level of chromatin organization. Their Snf2-type motor ATPases alter histone-DNA interactions through a common DNA translocation mechanism. Whether remodeller activities mainly catalyse nucleosome dynamics or accurately co-determine nucleosome organization remained unclear. In this Review, we discuss the emerging mechanisms of chromatin remodelling: dynamic remodeller architectures and their interactions, the inner workings of the ATPase cycle, allosteric regulation and pathological dysregulation. Recent mechanistic insights argue for a decisive role of remodellers in the energy-driven self-organization of chromatin, which enables both stability and plasticity of genome regulation - for example, during development and stress. Different remodellers, such as members of the SWI/SNF, ISWI, CHD and INO80 families, process (epi)genetic information through specific mechanisms into distinct functional outputs. Combinatorial assembly of remodellers and their interplay with histone modifications, histone variants, DNA sequence or DNA-bound transcription factors regulate nucleosome mobilization or eviction or histone exchange. Such input-output relationships determine specific nucleosome positions and compositions with distinct DNA accessibilities and mediate differential genome regulation. Finally, remodeller genes are often mutated in diseases characterized by genome dysregulation, notably in cancer, and we discuss their physiological relevance.

Virus-encoded histone doublets are essential and form nucleosome-like structures.

The organization of genomic DNA into defined nucleosomes has long been viewed as a hallmark of eukaryotes. This paradigm has been challenged by the identification of "minimalist" histones in archaea and more recently by the discovery of genes that encode fused remote homologs of the four eukaryotic histones in Marseilleviridae, a subfamily of giant viruses that infect amoebae. We demonstrate that viral doublet histones are essential for viral infectivity, localize to cytoplasmic viral factories after virus infection, and ultimately are found in the mature virions. Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of viral nucleosome-like particles show strong similarities to eukaryotic nucleosomes despite the limited sequence identify. The unique connectors that link the histone chains contribute to the observed instability of viral nucleosomes, and some histone tails assume structural roles. Our results further expand the range of "organisms" that require nucleosomes and suggest a specialized function of histones in the biology of these unusual viruses.

FBXO44 promotes DNA replication-coupled repetitive element silencing in cancer cells.

Repetitive elements (REs) compose ∼50% of the human genome and are normally transcriptionally silenced, although the mechanism has remained elusive. Through an RNAi screen, we identified FBXO44 as an essential repressor of REs in cancer cells. FBXO44 bound H3K9me3-modified nucleosomes at the replication fork and recruited SUV39H1, CRL4, and Mi-2/NuRD to transcriptionally silence REs post-DNA replication. FBXO44/SUV39H1 inhibition reactivated REs, leading to DNA replication stress and stimulation of MAVS/STING antiviral pathways and interferon (IFN) signaling in cancer cells to promote decreased tumorigenicity, increased immunogenicity, and enhanced immunotherapy response. FBXO44 expression inversely correlated with replication stress, antiviral pathways, IFN signaling, and cytotoxic T cell infiltration in human cancers, while a FBXO44-immune gene signature correlated with improved immunotherapy response in cancer patients. FBXO44/SUV39H1 were dispensable in normal cells. Collectively, FBXO44/SUV39H1 are crucial repressors of RE transcription, and their inhibition selectively induces DNA replication stress and viral mimicry in cancer cells.

The single-cell epigenomic and transcriptional landscape of immunity to influenza vaccination.

Emerging evidence indicates a fundamental role for the epigenome in immunity. Here, we mapped the epigenomic and transcriptional landscape of immunity to influenza vaccination in humans at the single-cell level. Vaccination against seasonal influenza induced persistently diminished H3K27ac in monocytes and myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs), which was associated with impaired cytokine responses to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Single-cell ATAC-seq analysis revealed an epigenomically distinct subcluster of monocytes with reduced chromatin accessibility at AP-1-targeted loci after vaccination. Similar effects were observed in response to vaccination with the AS03-adjuvanted H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine. However, this vaccine also stimulated persistently increased chromatin accessibility at interferon response factor (IRF) loci in monocytes and mDCs. This was associated with elevated expression of antiviral genes and heightened resistance to the unrelated Zika and Dengue viruses. These results demonstrate that vaccination stimulates persistent epigenomic remodeling of the innate immune system and reveal AS03's potential as an epigenetic adjuvant.

Neutrophil elastase selectively kills cancer cells and attenuates tumorigenesis.

Cancer cell genetic variability and similarity to host cells have stymied development of broad anti-cancer therapeutics. Our innate immune system evolved to clear genetically diverse pathogens and limit host toxicity; however, whether/how innate immunity can produce similar effects in cancer is unknown. Here, we show that human, but not murine, neutrophils release catalytically active neutrophil elastase (ELANE) to kill many cancer cell types while sparing non-cancer cells. ELANE proteolytically liberates the CD95 death domain, which interacts with histone H1 isoforms to selectively eradicate cancer cells. ELANE attenuates primary tumor growth and produces a CD8+T cell-mediated abscopal effect to attack distant metastases. Porcine pancreatic elastase (ELANE homolog) resists tumor-derived protease inhibitors and exhibits markedly improved therapeutic efficacy. Altogether, our studies suggest that ELANE kills genetically diverse cancer cells with minimal toxicity to non-cancer cells, raising the possibility of developing it as a broad anti-cancer therapy.

Polyamine metabolism is a central determinant of helper T cell lineage fidelity.

Polyamine synthesis represents one of the most profound metabolic changes during T cell activation, but the biological implications of this are scarcely known. Here, we show that polyamine metabolism is a fundamental process governing the ability of CD4+ helper T cells (TH) to polarize into different functional fates. Deficiency in ornithine decarboxylase, a crucial enzyme for polyamine synthesis, results in a severe failure of CD4+ T cells to adopt correct subset specification, underscored by ectopic expression of multiple cytokines and lineage-defining transcription factors across TH cell subsets. Polyamines control TH differentiation by providing substrates for deoxyhypusine synthase, which synthesizes the amino acid hypusine, and mice in which T cells are deficient for hypusine develop severe intestinal inflammatory disease. Polyamine-hypusine deficiency caused widespread epigenetic remodeling driven by alterations in histone acetylation and a re-wired tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Thus, polyamine metabolism is critical for maintaining the epigenome to focus TH cell subset fidelity.

Transcription in Living Cells: Molecular Mechanisms of Bursting.

Transcription in several organisms from certain bacteria to humans has been observed to be stochastic in nature: toggling between active and inactive states. Periods of active nascent RNA synthesis known as bursts represent individual gene activation events in which multiple polymerases are initiated. Therefore, bursting is the single locus illustration of both gene activation and repression. Although transcriptional bursting was originally observed decades ago, only recently have technological advances enabled the field to begin elucidating gene regulation at the single-locus level. In this review, we focus on how biochemical, genomic, and single-cell data describe the regulatory steps of transcriptional bursts.

Evaluating Enhancer Function and Transcription.

Cell-type- and condition-specific profiles of gene expression require coordination between protein-coding gene promoters and cis-regulatory sequences called enhancers. Enhancers can stimulate gene activity at great genomic distances from their targets, raising questions about how enhancers communicate with specific gene promoters and what molecular mechanisms underlie enhancer function. Characterization of enhancer loci has identified the molecular features of active enhancers that accompany the binding of transcription factors and local opening of chromatin. These characteristics include coactivator recruitment, histone modifications, and noncoding RNA transcription. However, it remains unclear which of these features functionally contribute to enhancer activity. Here, we discuss what is known about how enhancers regulate their target genes and how enhancers and promoters communicate. Further, we describe recent data demonstrating many similarities between enhancers and the gene promoters they control, and we highlight unanswered questions in the field, such as the potential roles of transcription at enhancers.

Dynamic Competition of Polycomb and Trithorax in Transcriptional Programming.

Predicting regulatory potential from primary DNA sequences or transcription factor binding patterns is not possible. However, the annotation of the genome by chromatin proteins, histone modifications, and differential compaction is largely sufficient to reveal the locations of genes and their differential activity states. The Polycomb Group (PcG) and Trithorax Group (TrxG) proteins are the central players in this cell type-specific chromatin organization. PcG function was originally viewed as being solely repressive and irreversible, as observed at the homeotic loci in flies and mammals. However, it is now clear that modular and reversible PcG function is essential at most developmental genes. Focusing mainly on recent advances, we review evidence for how PcG and TrxG patterns change dynamically during cell type transitions. The ability to implement cell type-specific transcriptional programming with exquisite fidelity is essential for normal development.

Molecular Mechanisms of Facultative Heterochromatin Formation: An X-Chromosome Perspective.

Facultative heterochromatin (fHC) concerns the developmentally regulated heterochromatinization of different regions of the genome and, in the case of the mammalian X chromosome and imprinted loci, of only one allele of a homologous pair. The formation of fHC participates in the timely repression of genes, by resisting strong trans activators. In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of fHC in mammals using a mouse model. We focus on X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) as a paradigm for fHC but also relate it to genomic imprinting and homeobox (Hox) gene cluster repression. A vital role for noncoding transcription and/or transcripts emerges as the general principle of triggering XCI and canonical imprinting. However, other types of fHC are established through an unknown mechanism, independent of noncoding transcription (Hox clusters and noncanonical imprinting). We also extensively discuss polycomb-group repressive complexes (PRCs), which frequently play a vital role in fHC maintenance.

Chromatin Potential Identified by Shared Single-Cell Profiling of RNA and Chromatin.

Cell differentiation and function are regulated across multiple layers of gene regulation, including modulation of gene expression by changes in chromatin accessibility. However, differentiation is an asynchronous process precluding a temporal understanding of regulatory events leading to cell fate commitment. Here we developed simultaneous high-throughput ATAC and RNA expression with sequencing (SHARE-seq), a highly scalable approach for measurement of chromatin accessibility and gene expression in the same single cell, applicable to different tissues. Using 34,774 joint profiles from mouse skin, we develop a computational strategy to identify cis-regulatory interactions and define domains of regulatory chromatin (DORCs) that significantly overlap with super-enhancers. During lineage commitment, chromatin accessibility at DORCs precedes gene expression, suggesting that changes in chromatin accessibility may prime cells for lineage commitment. We computationally infer chromatin potential as a quantitative measure of chromatin lineage-priming and use it to predict cell fate outcomes. SHARE-seq is an extensible platform to study regulatory circuitry across diverse cells in tissues.

Positioning Heterochromatin at the Nuclear Periphery Suppresses Histone Turnover to Promote Epigenetic Inheritance.

In eukaryotes, heterochromatin is generally located at the nuclear periphery. This study investigates the biological significance of perinuclear positioning for heterochromatin maintenance and gene silencing. We identify the nuclear rim protein Amo1NUPL2 as a factor required for the propagation of heterochromatin at endogenous and ectopic sites in the fission yeast genome. Amo1 associates with the Rix1PELP1-containing RNA processing complex RIXC and with the histone chaperone complex FACT. RIXC, which binds to heterochromatin protein Swi6HP1 across silenced chromosomal domains and to surrounding boundary elements, connects heterochromatin with Amo1 at the nuclear periphery. In turn, the Amo1-enriched subdomain is critical for Swi6 association with FACT that precludes histone turnover to promote gene silencing and preserve epigenetic stability of heterochromatin. In addition to uncovering conserved factors required for perinuclear positioning of heterochromatin, these analyses elucidate a mechanism by which a peripheral subdomain enforces stable gene repression and maintains heterochromatin in a heritable manner.

Initiation of Parental Genome Reprogramming in Fertilized Oocyte by Splicing Kinase SRPK1-Catalyzed Protamine Phosphorylation.

The paternal genome undergoes a massive exchange of histone with protamine for compaction into sperm during spermiogenesis. Upon fertilization, this process is potently reversed, which is essential for parental genome reprogramming and subsequent activation; however, it remains poorly understood how this fundamental process is initiated and regulated. Here, we report that the previously characterized splicing kinase SRPK1 initiates this life-beginning event by catalyzing site-specific phosphorylation of protamine, thereby triggering protamine-to-histone exchange in the fertilized oocyte. Interestingly, protamine undergoes a DNA-dependent phase transition to gel-like condensates and SRPK1-mediated phosphorylation likely helps open up such structures to enhance protamine dismissal by nucleoplasmin (NPM2) and enable the recruitment of HIRA for H3.3 deposition. Remarkably, genome-wide assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing (ATAC-seq) analysis reveals that selective chromatin accessibility in both sperm and MII oocytes is largely erased in early pronuclei in a protamine phosphorylation-dependent manner, suggesting that SRPK1-catalyzed phosphorylation initiates a highly synchronized reorganization program in both parental genomes.

Intergenerationally Maintained Histone H4 Lysine 16 Acetylation Is Instructive for Future Gene Activation.

Before zygotic genome activation (ZGA), the quiescent genome undergoes reprogramming to transition into the transcriptionally active state. However, the mechanisms underlying euchromatin establishment during early embryogenesis remain poorly understood. Here, we show that histone H4 lysine 16 acetylation (H4K16ac) is maintained from oocytes to fertilized embryos in Drosophila and mammals. H4K16ac forms large domains that control nucleosome accessibility of promoters prior to ZGA in flies. Maternal depletion of MOF acetyltransferase leading to H4K16ac loss causes aberrant RNA Pol II recruitment, compromises the 3D organization of the active genomic compartments during ZGA, and causes downregulation of post-zygotically expressed genes. Germline depletion of histone deacetylases revealed that other acetyl marks cannot compensate for H4K16ac loss in the oocyte. Moreover, zygotic re-expression of MOF was neither able to restore embryonic viability nor onset of X chromosome dosage compensation. Thus, maternal H4K16ac provides an instructive function to the offspring, priming future gene activation.