Coactivator as a Target Gene Specificity Determinant for Histone H3 Lysine 4 Methyltransferases

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 103; no. 42; pp. 15392 - 15397
• Main Authors: Lee, Seunghee, Lee, Dong-Kee, Dou, Yali, Lee, Jeongkyung, Lee, Bora, Kwak, Eunyee, Kong, Young-Yun, Lee, Soo-Kyung, Roeder, Robert G., Lee, Jae W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 17.10.2006; National Acad Sciences
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; Biological Sciences; Cell lines; Cells, Cultured; Embryos; Fibroblasts - cytology; Fibroblasts - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes; Genes, Tumor Suppressor; Genotype & phenotype; HEK293 cells; Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase - genetics; Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase - metabolism; Histones; Humans; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - genetics; Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins - metabolism; Leukemia; Macromolecular Substances; Messenger RNA; Methylation; Mice; Nuclear Receptor Coactivators; Phenotype; Phenotypes; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - genetics; Proto-Oncogene Proteins - metabolism; Receptors, Retinoic Acid - genetics; Receptors, Retinoic Acid - metabolism; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; RNA, Small Interfering - genetics; RNA, Small Interfering - metabolism; Small interfering RNA; Transactivation; Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - metabolism
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0607313103

Activating signal cointegrator-2 (ASC-2), a coactivator of multiple transcription factors that include retinoic acid receptor (RAR), associates with histone H3-K4 methyltranferases (H3K4MTs) MLL3 and MLL4 in mixed-lineage leukemia. Here, we show that mice expressing a SET domain mutant of MLL3 share phenotypes with isogenic$ASC2^{+/-}$mice and that expression and H3-K4 trimethylation of RAR target gene RAR-β2 are impaired in ASC-2-null mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) or in MEFs expressing siRNAs against both MLL3 and MLL4. We also show that MLL3 and MLL4 are found in distinct ASC-2-containing complexes rather than in a common ASC-2 complex, and they are recruited to RAR-β2 by ASC-2. In contrast, RAR-β2 expression is intact in MEFs devoid of menin, a component of MLL1 and MLL2 H3K4MT complexes. These results suggest that ASC-2 confers target gene specificity to MLL3 and MLL4 H3K4MT complexes and that recruitment of H3K4MTs to their target genes generally involves interactions between integral components of H3K4MT complexes and transcription factors.