|
 |
|
|
|
EMBO reports AOP
doi:10.1038/embor.2008.67
Published online: 2 May 2008
Atrophin recruits HDAC1/2 and G9a to modify histone H3K9 and to determine cell fates
Lei Wang1, Bernard Charroux2, Stephen Kerridge2 & Chih-Cheng Tsai1
|
|
|
|
1 Department of Physiology and Biophysics, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA
2 Institute de Biologie du Développement de Marseille Luminy, UMR6216, CNRS Université de la Méditerranée, Case 907 Parc Scientifique de Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 09, France
To whom correspondence should be addressed
Chih-Cheng Tsai Tel: +1 732 235 4885; Fax: +1 732 235 5038; E-mail: tsaich@umdnj.edu
Received 25 February 2008; Accepted 28 March 2008; Published online 2 May 2008.
|
|
|
|
Abstract
Atrophin family proteins, including the vertebrate arginine–glutamic acid dipeptide repeats protein (RERE) and Drosophila Atrophin (Atro), constitute a new class of nuclear receptor corepressors. Both RERE and Atro share the ELM2 (EGL-27 and MTA1 homology 2) and SANT (SWI3/ADA2/N-CoR/TFIII-B) domains, which are also present in other important transcriptional cofactors. Here, we report that the SANT domain in RERE binds to the histone methyltransferase G9a, and that both the ELM2 and SANT domains orchestrate molecular events that lead to a stable methylation of histone H3-lysine 9. We establish the physiological relevance of these interactions among Atrophin, G9a, and histone deacetylases 1 and 2 in Drosophila by showing that these proteins localize to overlapping chromosomal loci, and act together to suppress wing vein and melanotic-mass formation. This study not only shows a new function of the SANT domain and establishes its connection with the ELM2 domain, but also implies that a similar strategy is used by other ELM2–SANT proteins to repress gene transcription and to exert biological effects.
|
|
top  |
|
|
|
