Transcription and histone methylation changes correlate with imprint acquisition in male germ cells
Open Access
- 25 November 2011
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in The EMBO Journal
- Vol. 31 (3), 606-615
- https://doi.org/10.1038/emboj.2011.425
Abstract
Genomic imprinting in mammals is controlled by DNA methylation imprints that are acquired in the gametes, at essential sequence elements called ‘imprinting control regions’ (ICRs). What signals paternal imprint acquisition in male germ cells remains unknown. To address this question, we explored histone methylation at ICRs in mouse primordial germ cells (PGCs). By 13.5 days post coitum (d.p.c.), H3 lysine‐9 and H4 lysine‐20 trimethylation are depleted from ICRs in male (and female) PGCs, indicating that these modifications do not signal subsequent imprint acquisition, which initiates at ∼15.5 d.p.c. Furthermore, during male PGC development, H3 lysine‐4 trimethylation becomes biallelically enriched at ‘maternal’ ICRs, which are protected against DNA methylation, and whose promoters are active in the male germ cells. Remarkably, high transcriptional read‐through is detected at the paternal ICRs H19 ‐DMR and Ig‐DMR at the time of imprint establishment, from one of the strands predominantly. Combined, our data evoke a model in which differential histone modification states linked to transcriptional events may signal the specificity of imprint acquisition during spermatogenesis.This publication has 48 references indexed in Scilit:
- Histone tails regulate DNA methylation by allosterically activating de novo methyltransferaseCell Research, 2011
- Structural basis for recognition of H3K4 methylation status by the DNA methyltransferase 3A ATRX–DNMT3–DNMT3L domainEMBO Reports, 2009
- KDM1B is a histone H3K4 demethylase required to establish maternal genomic imprintsNature, 2009
- PR‐SET7 and SUV4‐20H regulate H4 lysine‐20 methylation at imprinting control regions in the mouseEMBO Reports, 2008
- Non‐coding transcripts in the H19 imprinting control region mediate gene silencing in transgenic DrosophilaEMBO Reports, 2007
- DNMT3L connects unmethylated lysine 4 of histone H3 to de novo methylation of DNANature, 2007
- Genome-wide maps of chromatin state in pluripotent and lineage-committed cellsNature, 2007
- Epigenetic characterization of the early embryo with a chromatin immunoprecipitation protocol applicable to small cell populationsNature Genetics, 2006
- A Bivalent Chromatin Structure Marks Key Developmental Genes in Embryonic Stem CellsCell, 2006
- Imprinting along the Kcnq1 domain on mouse chromosome 7 involves repressive histone methylation and recruitment of Polycomb group complexesNature Genetics, 2004