The protamines of the spider Steatoda sp. provide an example of liquid-liquid phase separation chromatin transitions during spermiogenesis.

While there is extensive information about sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBP) in vertebrates, there is by comparison, very little information in Arthropoda. This paper aims to contribute to filling this gap by analyzing these proteins in the sperm of the noble false widow spider Steatoda nobilis (Order Araneae, Family Theridiidae). To this end, we have developed a protein extraction method that allows the extraction of both cysteine-containing and non-Cysteine-containing protamines that is suitable for the preparation and analysis of SNBPs from samples where the amount of starting tissue material is limited. We carried out top-down mass spectrometry sequencing and molecular phylogenetic analyses to characterize the protamines of S. nobilis and other spiders. We also used electron microscopy to analyse the chromatin organization of the Steatoda sperm and we found it to exhibit liquid-liquid phase spinodal decomposition during the late stages of spermiogenesis. These studies further our knowledge on the distribution of SNBPs within the animal kingdom and provide additional support for a proposed evolutionary origin of many protamines from a histone H1 (H5) replication independent precursor.

Testing the PEST hypothesis using relevant Rett mutations in MeCP2 E1 and E2 isoforms.

Mutations in methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), such as the T158M, P152R, R294X, and R306C mutations, are responsible for most Rett syndrome (RTT) cases. These mutations often result in altered protein expression that appears to correlate with changes in the nuclear size; however, the molecular details of these observations are poorly understood. Using a C2C12 cellular system expressing human MeCP2-E1 isoform as well as mouse models expressing these mutations, we show that T158M and P152R result in a decrease in MeCP2 protein, whereas R306C has a milder variation, and R294X resulted in an overall 2.5 to 3 fold increase. We also explored the potential involvement of the MeCP2 PEST domains in the proteasome-mediated regulation of MeCP2. Finally, we used the R294X mutant to gain further insight into the controversial competition between MeCP2 and histone H1 in the chromatin context. Interestingly, in R294X, MeCP2 E1 and E2 isoforms were differently affected, where the E1 isoform contributes to much of the overall protein increase observed, while E2 decreases by half. The modes of MeCP2 regulation, thus, appear to be differently regulated in the two isoforms.

Extending MeCP2 interactome: canonical nucleosomal histones interact with MeCP2.

MeCP2 is a general regulator of transcription involved in the repression/activation of genes depending on the local epigenetic context. It acts as a chromatin regulator and binds with exquisite specificity to gene promoters. The set of epigenetic marks recognized by MeCP2 has been already established (mainly, cytosine modifications in CpG and CpA), as well as many of the constituents of its interactome. We unveil a new set of interactions for MeCP2 with the four canonical nucleosomal histones. MeCP2 interacts with high affinity with H2A, H2B, H3 and H4. In addition, Rett syndrome associated mutations in MeCP2 and histone epigenetic marks modulate these interactions. Given the abundance and the structural/functional relevance of histones and their involvement in epigenetic regulation, this new set of interactions and its modulating elements provide a new addition to the 'alphabet' for this epigenetic reader.

MeCP2 ubiquitination and sumoylation, in search of a function†.

MeCP2 (Methyl CpG binding protein 2) is an intrinsically disordered protein that binds to methylated genome regions. The protein is a critical transcriptional regulator of the brain, and its mutations account for 95% of Rett syndrome (RTT) cases. Early studies of this neurodevelopmental disorder revealed a close connection with dysregulations of the ubiquitin system (UbS), notably as related to UBE3A, a ubiquitin ligase involved in the proteasome-mediated degradation of proteins. MeCP2 undergoes numerous post-translational modifications (PTMs), including ubiquitination and sumoylation, which, in addition to the potential functional outcomes of their monomeric forms in gene regulation and synaptic plasticity, in their polymeric organization, these modifications play a critical role in proteasomal degradation. UbS-mediated proteasomal degradation is crucial in maintaining MeCP2 homeostasis for proper function and is involved in decreasing MeCP2 in some RTT-causing mutations. However, regardless of all these connections to UbS, the molecular details involved in the signaling of MeCP2 for its targeting by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and the functional roles of monomeric MeCP2 ubiquitination and sumoylation remain largely unexplored and are the focus of this review.

The sperm nuclear basic proteins of the sword fern (Polystichum munitum).

Sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs) were isolated from extracted antheridia-rich male gametophytes raised from spores of the swordfern, Polystichum munitum. Electrophoretic (acetic acid-urea PAGE and SDS-PAGE) and chromatographic (rp-HPLC) characterization of the nuclear proteins exhibited the characteristics of the histone (H-type). In both types of gel electrophoresis, histones H1, H2A, and H2B showed an altered electrophoretic mobility corresponding to that which is routinely observed for the histones in other plants. Histones present during spermatogenesis of the fern P. munitum were compared with the few current SNBPs known to be present in higher and lower evolutionary plant clades. A transition from an early protamine (P-type) SNBPs in charophytes and bryophytes to the (H-type) SNBP observed here is reminiscent of similar reversions observed in the animal kingdom.

Protamines and the sperm nuclear basic proteins Pandora's Box of insects.

Insects are the largest group of animals when it comes to the number and diversity of species. Yet, with the exception of Drosophila, no information is currently available on the primary structure of their sperm nuclear basic proteins (SNBPs). This paper represents the first attempt in this regard and provides information about six species of Neoptera: Poecillimon thessalicus, Graptosaltria nigrofuscata, Apis mellifera, Nasonia vitripennis, Parachauliodes continentalis, and Tribolium castaneum. The SNBPs of these species were characterized by acetic acid urea gel electrophoresis (AU-PAGE) and high-performance liquid chromatography fractionated. Protein sequencing was obtained using a combination of mass spectrometry sequencing, Edman N-terminal degradation sequencing and genome mining. While the SNBPs of several of these species exhibit a canonical arginine-rich protamine nature, a few of them exhibit a protamine-like composition. They appear to be the products of extensive cleavage processing from a precursor protein which are sometimes further processed by other post-translational modifications that are likely involved in the chromatin transitions observed during spermiogenesis in these organisms.

MeCP2: latest insights fundamentally change our understanding of its interactions with chromatin and its functional attributes.

Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) was initially isolated as an exclusive reader of DNA methylated at CpG. This recognition site, was subsequently extended to other DNA methylated residues and it has been the persisting dogma that binding to methylated DNA constitutes its physiologically relevant role. As we review here, two very recent papers fundamentally change our understanding of the interactions of this protein with chromatin, as well as its functional attributes. In the first one, the protein has been shown to bind to tri-methylated histone H3 (H3K27me3), providing a hint for what might turn out to be the first described chromodomain-containing protein reader in the animal kingdom, and unequivocally demonstrates the ability of MeCP2 to bind to nonmethylated CpG regions of the genome. The second paper reports how the protein dynamically participates in the formation of constitutive heterochromatin condensates. Histone H3K27me3 is a critical component of this form of chromatin.

EvoChromo: towards a synthesis of chromatin biology and evolution.

Over the past few years, interest in chromatin and its evolution has grown. To further advance these interests, we organized a workshop with the support of The Company of Biologists to debate the current state of knowledge regarding the origin and evolution of chromatin. This workshop led to prospective views on the development of a new field of research that we term 'EvoChromo'. In this short Spotlight article, we define the breadth and expected impact of this new area of scientific inquiry on our understanding of both chromatin and evolution.

A novel histone H4 variant H4G regulates rDNA transcription in breast cancer.

Histone variants, present in various cell types and tissues, are known to exhibit different functions. For example, histone H3.3 and H2A.Z are both involved in gene expression regulation, whereas H2A.X is a specific variant that responds to DNA double-strand breaks. In this study, we characterized H4G, a novel hominidae-specific histone H4 variant. We found that H4G is expressed in a variety of human cell lines and exhibit tumor-stage dependent overexpression in tissues from breast cancer patients. We found that H4G localized primarily to the nucleoli of the cell nucleus. This localization was controlled by the interaction of the alpha-helix 3 of the histone fold motif with a histone chaperone, nucleophosmin 1. In addition, we found that modulating H4G expression affects rRNA expression levels, protein synthesis rates and cell-cycle progression. Our data suggest that H4G expression alters nucleolar chromatin in a way that enhances rDNA transcription in breast cancer tissues.

Protamines from liverwort are produced by post-translational cleavage and C-terminal di-aminopropanelation of several male germ-specific H1 histones.

Protamines are small, highly-specialized, arginine-rich, and intrinsically-disordered chromosomal proteins that replace histones during spermiogenesis in many organisms. Previous evidence supports the notion that, in the animal kingdom, these proteins have evolved from a primitive replication-independent histone H1 involved in terminal cell differentiation. Nevertheless, a direct connection between the two families of chromatin proteins is missing. Here, we primarily used electron transfer dissociation MS-based analyses, revealing that the protamines in the sperm of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha result from post-translational cleavage of three precursor H1 histones. Moreover, we show that the mature protamines are further post-translationally modified by di-aminopropanelation, and previous studies have reported that they condense spermatid chromatin through a process consisting of liquid-phase assembly likely involving spinodal decomposition. Taken together, our results reveal that the interesting evolutionary ancestry of protamines begins with histone H1 in both the animal and plant kingdoms.

Histone H4 variant, H4G, drives ribosomal RNA transcription and breast cancer cell proliferation by loosening nucleolar chromatin structure.

The hominidae-specific histone variant H4G is expressed in breast cancer patients in a stage-dependent manner. H4G localizes primarily in the nucleoli via its interaction with nucleophosmin (NPM1). H4G is involved in rDNA transcription and ribosome biogenesis, which facilitates breast cancer cell proliferation. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process remains unknown. Here, we show that H4G is not stably incorporated into nucleolar chromatin, even with the chaperoning assistance of NPM1. H4G likely form transient nucleosome-like-structure that undergoes rapid dissociation. In addition, the nucleolar chromatin in H4GKO cells is more compact than WT cells. Altogether, our results suggest that H4G relaxes the nucleolar chromatin and enhances rRNA transcription by forming destabilized nucleosome in breast cancer cells.

MeCP2_E1 N-terminal modifications affect its degradation rate and are disrupted by the Ala2Val Rett mutation.

Methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2), the mutated protein in Rett syndrome (RTT), is a crucial chromatin-modifying and gene-regulatory protein that has two main isoforms (MeCP2_E1 and MeCP2_ E2) due to the alternative splicing and switching between translation start codons in exons one and two. Functionally, these two isoforms appear to be virtually identical; however, evidence suggests that only MeCP2_E1 is relevant to RTT, including a single RTT missense mutation in exon 1, Ala2Val. Here, we show that N-terminal co- and post-translational modifications differ for MeCP2_E1 and MeCP2_E1-Ala2Val, which result in different protein degradation rates in vitro. We report complete N-methionine excision (NME) for MeCP2_E1 and evidence of excision of multiple alanine residues from the N-terminal polyalanine stretch. For MeCP2_E1-Ala2Val, we observed only partial NME and N-acetylation (NA) of either methionine or valine. The localization of MeCP2_E1 and co-localization with chromatin appear to be unaffected by the Ala2Val mutation. However, a higher proteasomal degradation rate was observed for MeCP2_E1-Ala2Val compared with that for wild type MeCP2_E1. Thus, the etiopathology of Ala2Val is likely due to a reduced bio-availability of MeCP2 because of the faster degradation rate of the unmodified defective protein. Our data on the effects of the Ala2Val mutation on N-terminal modifications of MeCP2 may be applicable to Ala2Val mutations in other disease genes for which no etiopathological mechanism has been established.

40th International Asilomar Chromatin, Chromosomes, and Epigenetics Conference.

The 40th International Asilomar Chromatin, Chromosomes, and Epigenetics Conference was held in the Asilomar Conference Grounds, Pacific Grove, California, USA, on 6-9 December 2018. The organizing committee consisted of established scientists in the fields of chromatin and epigenetics: Sally Pasion and Michael Goldman from the Biology Department, San Francisco State University, California, USA; Philippe Georgel from the Department of Biological Sciences, Marshal University, West Virginia, USA; Juan Ausió from the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; and Christopher Eskiw from the Department of Biochemistry, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada. The meeting had two keynote speakers: Jessica Tyler and Jennifer Mitchell, and it covered topics on transcription, replication and repair, epigenetics, cell differentiation and disease, telomeres, and centromeres and it had two sessions devoted to nuclear and genomic organization. It encompassed the enthusiastic presentations of excellent trainees within the breathtaking natural setting of Pacific Grove.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) affects the hippocampal levels of histone variant H2A.Z-2.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is caused by prenatal exposure to ethanol and has been linked to neurodevelopmental impairments. Alcohol has the potential to alter some of the epigenetic components that play a critical role during development. Previous studies have provided evidence that prenatal exposure to ethanol results in abnormal epigenetic patterns (i.e., hypomethylation) of the genome. The aim of this study was to determine how prenatal exposure to ethanol in rats affects the hippocampal levels of expression of two important brain epigenetic transcriptional regulators involved in synaptic plasticity and memory consolidation: methyl CpG-binding protein 2 (MeCP2) and histone variant H2A.Z. Unexpectedly, under the conditions used in this work we were not able to detect any changes in MeCP2. Interestingly, however, we observed a significant decrease in H2A.Z, accompanied by its chromatin redistribution in both female and male FASD rat pups. Moreover, the data from reverse-transcription qPCR later confirmed that this decrease in H2A.Z is mainly due to down-regulation of its H2A.Z-2 isoform gene expression. Altogether, these data provide strong evidence that prenatal exposure to ethanol alters histone variant H2A.Z during neurogenesis of rat hippocampus.

Alterations in the properties of sperm protamine-like II protein after exposure of Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck 1819) to sub-toxic doses of cadmium.

Protamine-like proteins (PL-II, PL-III and PL-IV) represent the major basic nuclear component of Mytilus galloprovincialis L sperm chromatin. The present study investigates the effects induced on the properties of PL-II protein after exposure of Mytilus galloprovincialis L for 24 h to 1.5 and 5 µM CdCl2. We found cadmium accumulation in protamine-like proteins with a linear grow up with the exposition dose. In particular, after 5 µM CdCl2 mussels exposure, the mobility of PL-II band changed in SDS-PAGE, suggesting structural rearrangement in presence of cadmium. Structural analysis using fluorescent probes, indicated that at 5 µM CdCl2 the complete conformational change of PL-II protein was reached. In the same condition of mussels exposure of 5 µM CdCl2, PL-II protein changed its DNA binding mode, which determined a closer DNA binding, because higher amount of NaCl were required for PL-II protein release by sperm nuclei. These results supported the hypothesis that mussel exposure to this CdCl2 dose, although lower to toxic ones, affects the properties of this protein and as a consequence chromatin organization of spermatozoa that is essential for the success of fertilization.

HMGNs: The enhancer charmers.

The DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) of chromatin constitute one of the best landmarks of eukaryotic genes that are poised and/or activated for transcription. For over 35 years, the high-mobility group nucleosome-binding chromosomal proteins HMGN1 and HMGN2 have been shown to play a role in the establishment of these chromatin-accessible domains at transcriptional regulatory elements, namely promoters and enhancers. The critical presence of HMGNs at enhancers, as highlighted by a recent publication, suggests a role for them in the structural and functional fine-tuning of the DHSs in vertebrates. As we review here, while preferentially out-competing histone H1 binding and invading neighbor nucleosomes, HMGNs may also modulate histone H3 at serine 10 (H3S10ph), which plays an important role in enhancer function and transcriptional initiation.

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation-dependent Transient Chromatin Decondensation and Histone Displacement following Laser Microirradiation.

Chromatin undergoes a rapid ATP-dependent, ATM and H2AX-independent decondensation when DNA damage is introduced by laser microirradiation. Although the detailed mechanism of this decondensation remains to be determined, the kinetics of decondensation are similar to the kinetics of poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation. We used laser microirradiation to introduce DNA strand breaks into living cells expressing a photoactivatable GFP-tagged histone H2B. We find that poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation mediated primarily by poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) is responsible for the rapid decondensation of chromatin at sites of DNA damage. This decondensation of chromatin correlates temporally with the displacement of histones, which is sensitive to PARP inhibition and is transient in nature. Contrary to the predictions of the histone shuttle hypothesis, we did not find that histone H1 accumulated on poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) in vivo. Rather, histone H1, and to a lessor extent, histones H2A and H2B were rapidly depleted from the sites of PAR accumulation. However, histone H1 returns to chromatin and the chromatin recondenses. Thus, the PARP-dependent relaxation of chromatin closely correlates with histone displacement.

MeCP2 and CTCF: enhancing the cross-talk of silencers.

This paper provides a brief introductory review of the most recent advances in our knowledge about the structural and functional aspects of two transcriptional regulators: MeCP2, a protein whose mutated forms are involved in Rett syndrome; and CTCF, a constitutive transcriptional insulator. This is followed by a description of the PTMs affecting these two proteins and an analysis of their known interacting partners. A special emphasis is placed on the recent studies connecting these two proteins, focusing on the still poorly understood potential structural and functional interactions between the two of them on the chromatin substrate. An overview is provided for some of the currently known genes that are dually regulated by these two proteins. Finally, a model is put forward to account for their possible involvement in their regulation of gene expression.

The shades of gray of the chromatin fiber: recent literature provides new insights into the structure of chromatin.

The chromatin fiber consists of a string of nucleosomes connected by linker DNA regions. The hierarchy of folding of this fiber within the cell has long been controversial, and the existence of an originally described 30 nm fiber has been debated and reviewed extensively. This review contextualizes two recent papers on this topic that suggest the 30 nm fiber to be an over-simplification. The idealized model from the first study provides good insight into the constraints and histone participation in the maintenance of the fiber structure. The second paper provides a theoretical description of a more realistic view of the highly heterogeneous and dynamic chromatin organization in the in vivo setting. It is now time to abandon the highly regular "one start" solenoidal 30 nm structure and replace it with a more realistic highly dynamic, polymorphic fiber.

MeCP2, A Modulator of Neuronal Chromatin Organization Involved in Rett Syndrome.

From an epigenetic perspective, the genomic chromatin organization of neurons exhibits unique features when compared to somatic cells. Methyl CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), through its ability to bind to methylated DNA, seems to be a major player in regulating such unusual organization. An important contribution to this uniqueness stems from the intrinsically disordered nature of this highly abundant chromosomal protein in neurons. Upon its binding to methylated/hydroxymethylated DNA, MeCP2 is able to recruit a plethora of interacting protein and RNA partners. The final outcome is a highly specialized chromatin organization wherein linker histones (histones of the H1 family) and MeCP2 share an organizational role that dynamically changes during neuronal development and that it is still poorly understood. MeCP2 mutations alter its chromatin-binding dynamics and/or impair the ability of the protein to interact with some of its partners, resulting in Rett syndrome (RTT). Therefore, deciphering the molecular details involved in the MeCP2 neuronal chromatin arrangement is critical for our understanding of the proper and altered functionality of these cells.