Essential roles of the histone methyltransferase ESET in the epigenetic control of neural progenitor cells during development

Epigenetic regulation of the neural transcriptome and alcohol interference during development

Alcohol intoxicated cells broadly alter their metabolites – among them methyl and acetic acid can alter the DNA and histone epigenetic codes. Together with the promiscuous effect of alcohol on enzyme activities (including DNA methyltransferases) and the downstream effect on microRNA and transposable elements, alcohol is well placed to affect intrinsic transcriptional programs of developing cells. Considering that the developmental consequences of early alcohol exposure so profoundly affect neural systems, it is not unfounded to reason that alcohol exploits transcriptional regulators to challenge canonical gene expression and in effect, intrinsic developmental pathways to achieve widespread damage in the developing nervous system. To fully evaluate the role of epigenetic regulation in alcohol-related developmental disease, it is important to first gather the targets of epigenetic players in neurodevelopmental models. Here, we attempt to review the cellular and genomic windows of opportunity for alcohol to act on intrinsic neurodevelopmental programs. We also discuss some established targets of fetal alcohol exposure and propose pathways for future study. Overall, this review hopes to illustrate the known epigenetic program and its alterations in normal neural stem cell development and further, aims to depict how alcohol, through neuroepigenetics, may lead to neurodevelopmental deficits observed in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Dynamic expression and roles of Hes factors in neural development

The basic helix-loop-helix factors Hes1 and Hes5 repress the expression of proneural factors such as Ascl1, thereby inhibiting neuronal differentiation and maintaining neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Hes1 expression oscillates by negative feedback with a period of about 2-3 h in proliferating NPCs. Induction of sustained expression of Hes1 in NPCs inhibits their cell-cycle progression, suggesting that the oscillatory expression of Hes1 is important for the proliferation of NPCs. Hes1 oscillation drives the oscillatory expression of proneural factors such as Ascl1 by periodic repression. By contrast, in differentiating neurons, Hes1 expression disappears and the expression of proneural factors is up-regulated and sustained. A new optogenetics approach that induces Ascl1 expression by blue light illumination demonstrated that sustained expression of Ascl1 induces neuronal differentiation, whereas oscillatory expression of Ascl1 activates the proliferation of NPCs. These results together indicate that Hes1 regulates the oscillatory versus sustained expression of the proneural factor Ascl1, which in turn regulates the proliferation of NPCs and the subsequent processes of cell-cycle exit and neuronal fate determination, depending on the expression dynamics.

Histone methylation during neural development

Post-translational modification of histone proteins, such as the methylation of lysine and arginine residues, influences the higher order of chromatin and leads to gene activation or silencing. Histone methyltransferases or demethylases actively add or remove various methylation marks in a cell-type-specific and context-dependent way. They are therefore important players in regulating the transcriptional program of a cell. Some control of the various cellular programs is necessary during the differentiation of stem cells along a specific lineage, when differentiation to alternative lineages needs to be suppressed. One example is the development of neurons from neural stem cells during neurogenesis. Neurogenesis is a highly organized process that requires the proper coordination of survival, proliferation, differentiation and migration signals. This holds true for both embryonic and neural stem cells that give rise to the various cell types of the central nervous system. The control of embryonic and neural stem cell self-renewal and differentiation is achieved by both extrinsic and intrinsic signals that regulate gene expression precisely. Recent advances in neuroscience support the importance of epigenetic modifications, such as the methylation and acetylation of histones, as an important intrinsic mechanism for the regulation of central nervous system development. This review summarizes our current knowledge of histone methylation processes during neural development and provides insights into the function of histone methylation enzymes and their role during central nervous system development.

The histone methyltransferase ESET is required for the survival of spermatogonial stem/progenitor cells in mice

Self-renewal and differentiation of spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are the foundation of spermatogenesis throughout a male's life. SSC transplantation will be a valuable solution for young male patients to preserve their fertility. As SSCs in the collected testis tissue from the patients are very limited, it is necessary to expansion the SSCs in vitro. Previous studies suggested that histone methyltransferase ERG-associated protein with SET domain (ESET) represses gene expression and is essential for the maintenance of the pool of embryonic stem cells and neurons. The objective of this study was to determine the role of ESET in SSCs using in vitrocell culture and germ cell transplantation. Cell transplantation assay showed that knockdown of ESET reduced the number of seminiferous tubules with spermatogenesis when compared with that of the control. Knockdown of ESET also upregulated the expression of apoptosis-associated genes (such as P53, Caspase9, Apaf1), whereas inhibited the expression of apoptosis-suppressing genes (such as Bcl2l1, X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein). In addition, suppression of ESET led to increase in expression of Caspase9 and activation of Caspase3 (P17) as well as cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Among the five ESET-targeting genes (Cox4i2, spermatogenesis and oogenesis Specific Basic Helix-Loop-Helix 2, Nobox, Foxn1 and Dazl) examined by ChIP assay, Cox4i2 was found to regulate SSC apoptosis by the rescue experiment. BSP analyses further showed that DNA methylation in the promoter loci of Cox4i2was influenced by ESET, indicating that ESET also regulated gene expression through DNA methylation in addition to histone methylation. In conclusion, we found that ESET regulated SSC apoptosis by suppressing of Cox4i2 expression through histone H3 lysine 9 tri-methylation and DNA methylation. The results obtained will provide unique insights that would broaden the research on SSC biology and contribute to the treatment of male infertility.

Neurogenesis during development of the vertebrate central nervous system

During vertebrate development, a wide variety of cell types and tissues emerge from a single fertilized oocyte. One of these tissues, the central nervous system, contains many types of neurons and glial cells that were born during the period of embryonic and post-natal neuro- and gliogenesis. As to neurogenesis, neural progenitors initially divide symmetrically to expand their pool and switch to asymmetric neurogenic divisions at the onset of neurogenesis. This process involves various mechanisms involving intrinsic as well as extrinsic factors. Here, we discuss the recent advances and insights into regulation of neurogenesis in the developing vertebrate central nervous system. Topics include mechanisms of (a)symmetric cell division, transcriptional and epigenetic regulation, and signaling pathways, using mostly examples from the developing mammalian neocortex.

p53 down-regulates SETDB1 gene expression during paclitaxel induced-cell death

Paclitaxel (PTX) is a chemotherapeutic drug which induces tubulin stability and regulates expression of death related genes in human cancer cells. Its anticancer mechanism is well known, however its effects on chromatin remodeling factors are poorly understood. In this study, we examine if PTX affects expression of SETDB1 HMTase during cell death. PTX induces cell death via G2/M arrest in human lung cancer cells. PTX treatment induces the p53 protein, but down-regulates expression of SETDB1 at the transcriptional level as well as the protein level. SETDB1 promoter activity is increased to approximately 30-fold in normal condition, but the activity is significantly inhibited in the PTX treated group. In addition, p53 transfection inhibits SETDB1 promoter activity. The p53 protein directly binds to proximal region of the SETDB1 promoter, and H3K9me3 occupancy in this region also increased in the presence of p53. Immunoprecipitation experiment showed interaction of p53 and SUV39H1, suggesting that association of p53 and SUV39H1 is responsible for increased H3K9me3 occupancy and transcription repression of SETDB1. This result demonstrates that PTX down-regulates SETDB1 gene expression in a p53 dependent manner, and p53 might participate in heterochromatic repression on the promoter regions of SETDB1.

Dynamic changes of the epigenetic landscape during cellular differentiation

Epigenetic mechanisms are crucial to stabilize cell type-specific gene-expression programs. However, during differentiation, these programs need to be modified – a complex process that requires dynamic but tightly controlled rearrangements in the epigenetic landscape. During recent years, the major epigenetic machineries for gene activation and repression have been extensively characterized. Snapshots of the epigenetic landscape in pluripotent versus differentiated cells have further revealed how chromatin can change during cellular differentiation. Although transcription factors are the key drivers of developmental transitions, it became clear that their function is greatly influenced by the chromatin environment. Better insight into the tight interplay between transcription factor networks and the epigenetic landscape is therefore necessary to improve our understanding of cellular differentiation mechanisms. These systems can then be challenged and modified for the development of regenerative therapies.

ESET histone methyltransferase regulates osteoblastic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells during postnatal bone development

To investigate the effects of histone methyltransferase ESET (also known as SETDB1) on bone metabolism, we analyzed osteoblasts and osteoclasts in ESET knockout animals, and performed osteogenesis assays using ESET-null mesenchymal stem cells. We found that ESET deletion severely impairs osteoblast differentiation but has no effect on osteoclastogenesis, that co-transfection of ESET represses Runx2-mediated luciferase reporter while siRNA knockdown of ESET activates the luciferase reporter in mesenchymal cells, and that ESET is required for postnatal expression of Indian hedgehog protein in the growth plate. As the bone phenotype in ESET-null mice is 100% penetrant, these results support ESET as a critical regulator of osteoblast differentiation during bone development.

Histone methylation in the nervous system: functions and dysfunctions

Chromatin remodeling is a key epigenetic process controlling the regulation of gene transcription. Local changes of chromatin architecture can be achieved by post-translational modifications of histones such as methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, sumoylation, and ADP-ribosylation. These changes are dynamic and allow for rapid repression or de-repression of specific target genes. Chromatin remodeling enzymes are largely involved in the control of cellular differentiation, and loss or gain of function is often correlated with pathological events. For these reasons, research on chromatin remodeling enzymes is currently very active and rapidly expanding, these enzymes representing very promising targets for the design of novel therapeutics in different areas of medicine including oncology and neurology. In this review, we focus on histone methylation in the nervous system. We provide an overview on mammalian histone methyltransferases and demethylases and their mechanisms of action, and we discuss their roles in the development of the nervous system and their involvement in neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and behavioral disorders.

MicroRNA9 regulates neural stem cell differentiation by controlling Hes1 expression dynamics in the developing brain

Earlier studies show that Hes1 expression is oscillatory in neural stem cells but sustained and high in the roof plate and the floor plate, and that such different dynamics of Hes1 expression (oscillatory versus sustained) regulate different proliferation and differentiation characteristics of these cells (active in neural stem cells but rather dormant in roof/floor plate cells). The mechanism of how different dynamics of Hes1 expression is controlled remains to be determined. Here, we found that the seed sequence of microRNA-9 (miR-9) is complementary to the 3'-UTR sequence of Hes1 mRNA. MiR-9 is highly expressed in the ventricular zone of the developing brain, which contains neural stem cells, but it is not expressed in the roof plate or the floor plate. Over-expression of miR-9 negatively regulates the Hes1 protein expression by interacting with the 3'-UTR of Hes1 mRNA, thereby inducing cell cycle exit and neuronal differentiation. Conversely, knockdown of miR-9 inhibits neuronal differentiation. Furthermore, knockdown of miR-9 inhibits the oscillatory expression of Hes1 mRNA in neural stem cells. These results indicate that miR-9 regulates the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells by controlling the dynamics of Hes1 expression in the developing brain.