Acetylation of PAX7 controls muscle stem cell self-renewal and differentiation potential in mice.

Muscle stem cell function has been suggested to be regulated by Acetyl-CoA and NAD+ availability, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here we report the identification of two acetylation sites on PAX7 that positively regulate its transcriptional activity. Lack of PAX7 acetylation reduces DNA binding, specifically to the homeobox motif.

Carm1 regulates Pax7 transcriptional activity through MLL1/2 recruitment during asymmetric satellite stem cell divisions.

In skeletal muscle, asymmetrically dividing satellite stem cells give rise to committed satellite cells that transcribe the myogenic determination factor Myf5, a Pax7-target gene. We identified the arginine methyltransferase Carm1 as a Pax7 interacting protein and found that Carm1 specifically methylates multiple arginines in the N terminus of Pax7. Methylated Pax7 directly binds the C-terminal cleavage forms of the trithorax proteins MLL1/2 resulting in the recruitment of the ASH2L:MLL1/2:WDR5:RBBP5 histone H3K4 methyltransferase complex to regulatory enhancers and the proximal promoter of Myf5.

Transcriptional dominance of Pax7 in adult myogenesis is due to high-affinity recognition of homeodomain motifs.

Pax3 and Pax7 regulate stem cell function in skeletal myogenesis. However, molecular insight into their distinct roles has remained elusive. Using gene expression data combined with genome-wide binding-site analysis, we show that both Pax3 and Pax7 bind identical DNA motifs and jointly activate a large panel of genes involved in muscle stem cell function.

The E3 ubiquitin ligase activity of Trip12 is essential for mouse embryogenesis.

Protein ubiquitination is a post-translational protein modification that regulates many biological conditions. Trip12 is a HECT-type E3 ubiquitin ligase that ubiquitinates ARF and APP-BP1. However, the significance of Trip12 in vivo is largely unknown.

The ubiquitin ligase CHIP acts as an upstream regulator of oncogenic pathways.

CHIP is a U-box-type ubiquitin ligase that induces ubiquitylation and degradation of its substrates, which include several oncogenic proteins. The relationship between CHIP and tumour progression, however, has not been elucidated. Here, we show that CHIP suppresses tumour progression in human breast cancer by inhibiting oncogenic pathways.

Krüppel-like factor 5 is essential for blastocyst development and the normal self-renewal of mouse ESCs.

The transcription factor Klf4 has demonstrated activity in the reprogramming of somatic cells to a pluripotent state, but the molecular mechanism of this process remains unknown. It is, therefore, of great interest to understand the functional role of Klf4 and related genes in ESC regulation. Here, we show that homozygous disruption of Klf5 results in the failure of ESC derivation from ICM cells and early embryonic lethality due to an implantation defect.

Functional interactions between BLM and XRCC3 in the cell.

Bloom's syndrome (BS), which is caused by mutations in the BLM gene, is characterized by a predisposition to a wide variety of cancers. BS cells exhibit elevated frequencies of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs), interchanges between homologous chromosomes (mitotic chiasmata), and sensitivity to several DNA-damaging agents. To address the mechanism that confers these phenotypes in BS cells, we characterize a series of double and triple mutants with mutations in BLM and in other genes involved in repair pathways.

WRN counteracts the NHEJ pathway upon camptothecin exposure.

We investigated the function of the interaction between WRN (Werner syndrome gene product) and Ku70 and between WRN and DNA-PKcs, which are components of the DNA-PKcs/Ku70/Ku80 complex, by generating KU70(-/-)/WRN(-/-) and DNA-PKcs(-/-/-)/WRN(-/-) double-gene knockout chicken DT40 cells. When treated with camptothecin (CPT), an inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase I, WRN(-/-) cells showed higher sensitivity than wild-type cells, whereas KU70(-/-) and DNA-PKcs(-/-/-) cells showed hyper-resistance. Disruption of KU70 or DNA-PKcs suppressed the sensitivity of WRN(-/-) cells to CPT, rendering them as resistant to CPT treatment as KU70(-/-) and DNA-PKcs(-/-/-) cells.

Turning off estrogen receptor beta-mediated transcription requires estrogen-dependent receptor proteolysis.

Recent studies have shed light on the ligand-dependent transactivation mechanisms of nuclear receptors (NRs). When the ligand dose is reduced, the transcriptional activity of NRs should be downregulated. Here we show that a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway plays a key role in turning off transcription mediated by estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta).

Analyses of the interaction of WRNIP1 with Werner syndrome protein (WRN) in vitro and in the cell.

Werner was originally identified as a protein that interacts with the product of the Werner syndrome (WS) gene, WRN. To examine the function of the WRNIP1/WRN complex in cells, we generated knock-out cell lines that were deficient in either WRN (WRN(-/-)), WRNIP1 (WRNIP10(-/-/-)), or both (WRNIP1(-/-/-)/WRN(-/-)), using a chicken B lymphocyte cell line, DT40. WRNIP1(-/-/-)/WRN(-/-) DT40 cells grew at a similar rate as wild-type cells, but the rate of spontaneous sister-chromatid exchange was augmented compared to that of either of the single mutant cell lines.

A specific CpG site demethylation in the human interleukin 2 gene promoter is an epigenetic memory.

DNA demethylation plays a critical role in transcriptional regulation in differentiated somatic cells. However, there is no experimental evidence that CpG methylation in a small region of a genome restricts gene expression. Here, we show that the anti-CD3repsilon/CD28 antibody stimulation of human CD4+ T cells induces IL2 expression following epigenetic changes, including active demethylation of a specific CpG site, recruitment of Oct-1, and changes in histone modifications.

Ligand-dependent switching of ubiquitin-proteasome pathways for estrogen receptor.

Recent evidence indicates that the transactivation of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) requires estrogen-dependent receptor ubiquitination and degradation. Here we show that estrogen-unbound (unliganded) ERalpha is also ubiquitinated and degraded through a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. To investigate this ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, we purified the ubiquitin ligase complex for unliganded ERalpha and identified a protein complex containing the carboxyl terminus of Hsc70-interacting protein (CHIP).

Ubc9 is required for damage-tolerance and damage-induced interchromosomal homologous recombination in S. cerevisiae.

Ubc9 is an enzyme involved in the conjugation of small ubiquitin related modifier (SUMO) to target proteins. A Saccharomyces cerevisiae ubc9 temperature sensitive (ts) mutant showed higher sensitivity to various DNA damaging agents such as methylmethanesulfonate (MMS) and UV at a semi-permissive temperature than wild-type cells. The sensitivity of ubc9ts cells was not suppressed by the introduction of a mutated UBC9 gene, UBC9-C93S, whose product is unable to covalently bind to SUMO and consequently fails to conjugate SUMO to target proteins.

Full activation of estrogen receptor alpha activation function-1 induces proliferation of breast cancer cells.

The effects of estrogen and anti-estrogen are mediated through the estrogen receptors (ER) alpha and beta, which function as ligand-induced transcriptional factors. Recently, one of the phthalate esters, n-butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), has been shown to induce estrogen receptor-mediated responses. By using the truncated types of ER mutants, we revealed that activation function-1 (AF-1) activity was necessary for the BBP-dependent transactivation function of ERalpha.

Functional relation among RecQ family helicases RecQL1, RecQL5, and BLM in cell growth and sister chromatid exchange formation.

Human RECQL1 and RECQL5 belong to the RecQ family that includes Bloom syndrome, Werner syndrome, and Rothmund-Thomson syndrome causative genes. Cells derived from individuals suffering from these syndromes show significant levels of genomic instability. However, neither RECQL1 nor RECQL5 has been related to a disease, and nothing is known about the functions of RecQL1 and RecQL5.

Characterization of the slow-growth phenotype of S. cerevisiae Whip/Mgs1 Sgs1 double deletion mutants.

RecQ DNA helicases from many organisms have been indicated to function in the maintenance of genomic stability. In human cells, mutation in the WRN helicase, a RecQ-like DNA helicase, results in the Werner syndrome (WS), a genetic disorder characterized by genomic instability and premature ageing. Similarly, mutation in SGS1, the RECQ homologue in budding yeast, results in genomic instability and accelerated ageing.

Ubc9 is essential for viability of higher eukaryotic cells.

Ubc9 is an enzyme involved in the conjugation of SUMO-1 (small ubiquitin related modifier 1) to target proteins. The SUMO-1 conjugation system is well conserved from yeasts to higher eukaryotes, but many SUMO-1 target proteins reported recently in higher eukaryotic cells, including IkappaBalpha, MDM2, p53, and PML, are not present in yeasts. To determine the physiological roles of SUMO-1 conjugation in higher eukaryotic cells, we constructed a conditional UBC9 mutant of chicken DT40 cells containing the UBC9 transgene under control of a tetracycline-repressible promoter and characterized their loss of function phenotypes.