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  • The EMBO Journal (2008) 27, 88 - 99
  • doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7601954

Published online: 6 December 2007

14-3-3 Proteins recognize a histone code at histone H3 and are required for transcriptional activation

Stefan Winter1, Elisabeth Simboeck1, Wolfgang Fischle2, Gordin Zupkovitz1, Ilse Dohnal3, Karl Mechtler4, Gustav Ammerer3 and Christian Seiser1

  1. Max F Perutz Laboratories, Vienna Biocenter, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  2. Laboratory of Chromatin Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Goettingen, Germany
  3. Christian Doppler Laboratory for Proteome Analysis, Vienna, Austria
  4. Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna Biocenter, Vienna, Austria

Correspondence to:

Christian Seiser, Max F Perutz Laboratories, Vienna Biocenter, Medical University of Vienna, Dr Bohr-Gasse 9/2, Vienna 1030, Austria. Tel.: +431 4277 61770; Fax: +431 4277 9617; E-mail: christian.seiser@meduniwien.ac.at

Received 23 April 2007; Accepted 16 November 2007

Interphase phosphorylation of S10 at histone H3 is linked to transcriptional activation of a specific subset of mammalian genes like HDAC1. Recently, 14-3-3 proteins have been described as detectors for this phosphorylated histone H3 form. Here, we report that 14-3-3 binding is modulated by combinatorial modifications of histone H3. S10 phosphorylation is necessary for an interaction, but additional H3K9 or H3K14 acetylation increases the affinity of 14-3-3 for histone H3. Histone H3 phosphoacetylation occurs concomitant with K9 methylation in vivo, suggesting that histone phosphorylation and acetylation can synergize to overcome repressive histone methylation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments reveal recruitment of 14-3-3 proteins to the HDAC1 gene in an H3S10ph-dependent manner. Recruitment of 14-3-3 to the promoter is enhanced by additional histone H3 acetylation and correlates with dissociation of the repressive binding module HP1gamma. Finally, siRNA-mediated loss of 14-3-3 proteins abolishes the transcriptional activation of HDAC1. Together our data indicate that 14-3-3 proteins are crucial mediators of histone phosphoacetylation signals.

  • Keywords:

    • 14-3-3,
    • histone acetylation,
    • histone code,
    • histone phosphorylation,
    • phosphoacetylation