scholarly journals Characterization of histone modifications associated with DNA damage repair genes upon exposure to gamma rays in Arabidopsis seedlings

2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 646-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suvendu Mondal ◽  
Young Sam Go ◽  
Seung Sik Lee ◽  
Byung Yeoup Chung ◽  
Jin-Hong Kim

Abstract Dynamic histone modifications play an important role in controlling gene expression in response to various environmental cues. This mechanism of regulation of gene expression is important for sessile organisms, like land plants. We have previously reported consistent upregulation of various marker genes in response to gamma rays at various post-irradiation times. In the present study, we performed various chromatin modification analyses at selected loci using the standard chromatin immunoprecipitation procedure, and demonstrate that upregulation of these genes is associated with histone H3 lysine 4 tri-methylation (H3K4me3) at the gene body or transcription start sites of these loci. Further, at specific AtAgo2 loci, both H3K4me3 and histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9ac) are important in controlling gene expression in response to gamma irradiation. There was no change in DNA methylation in these selected loci. We conclude that specific histone modification such as H3K4me3 and H3K9ac may be more important in activating gene expression in these selected loci in response to gamma irradiation than a change in DNA methylation.

2016 ◽  
Vol 311 (6) ◽  
pp. L1245-L1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac K. Sundar ◽  
Irfan Rahman

Chromatin-modifying enzymes mediate DNA methylation and histone modifications on recruitment to specific target gene loci in response to various stimuli. The key enzymes that regulate chromatin accessibility for maintenance of modifications in DNA and histones, and for modulation of gene expression patterns in response to cigarette smoke (CS), are not known. We hypothesize that CS exposure alters the gene expression patterns of chromatin-modifying enzymes, which then affects multiple downstream pathways involved in the response to CS. We have, therefore, analyzed chromatin-modifying enzyme profiles and validated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). We also performed immunoblot analysis of targeted histone marks in C57BL/6J mice exposed to acute and subchronic CS, and of lungs from nonsmokers, smokers, and patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We found a significant increase in expression of several chromatin modification enzymes, including DNA methyltransferases, histone acetyltransferases, histone methyltransferases, and SET domain proteins, histone kinases, and ubiquitinases. Our qPCR validation data revealed a significant downregulation of Dnmt1, Dnmt3a, Dnmt3b, Hdac2, Hdac4, Hat1, Prmt1, and Aurkb. We identified targeted chromatin histone marks (H3K56ac and H4K12ac), which are induced by CS. Thus CS-induced genotoxic stress differentially affects the expression of epigenetic modulators that regulate transcription of target genes via DNA methylation and site-specific histone modifications. This may have implications in devising epigenetic-based therapies for COPD and lung cancer.


Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Demokan

The natural products obtained from plants, bacteria, fungi and marine have been used in the treatment of human diseases throughout the centuries. These compounds of them also interfere with the expression of genes by influencing epigenetic mechanisms. Recent researches showed significant outcomes suggesting that epigenetic silencing of the main regulatory genesis a sign of cancer onset and its progression. Epigenetic mechanisms that regulate expression of genes without mutation in the DNA are carried through DNA methylation, histone modification, chromatin remodeling and RNA interference. DNA methylation observed in the promoter regions of genes and prevents binding of the transcription factors by suppressing gene expression or by altering the nucleosome package of DNA, and may also directly inhibit transcription. Plant based products, such as curcumin, flavonoids, genistein, have been shown to exhibit cytostatic and apoptotic activities by influencing DNA methylation-based gene expression regulation in tumor cells. Additionally, natural products such as sulforaphane, retinoic acid, cucurbitacin B, casein Q, parthenolide, folate, cobalamin, pyridoxine and methionine also are used as anti-cancer agents based on DNA methylation. On the other hand, microRNAs (miRNAs) play a particular role in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in post-transcription and post-translation processes. Quercetin, tryptolide, and honokiol are the natural compounds used in miRNA based agents. Histone modifications, which also affect the chromatin structure, play an important role in the initiation and progression of carcinogenesis as well as regulation of gene expression. As expected particular inhibitors of histone acetyltransferases (HATs) and histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzymes which are responsible of histone modifications have been developed for epigenetic intervention in cancer treatment. Numerous natural compounds are known to affect histone-modifying enzymes; such as romidepsin, epigallocatechingallate (EGCG), daidzein, sulphorafane, glucoraphanin, parthenolide, triptolide, sinapinic acid. Natural epigenetic modulators developed for epigenetic mechanisms enable the destruction of apoptotic, necrotic or autophagic pathways of tumor cells. Beside epigenetic mechanisms, these products exert their effects through influencing the cell cycle, DNA repair, and epigenetic mechanisms which modulate gene expression. More extensive in vitro and in vivo studies are required to investigate the effect of natural product-based epigenetic agents which seems to be very promising for future cancer treatment approaches.


Author(s):  
Wanxue Xu ◽  
Mengyao Xu ◽  
Longlong Wang ◽  
Wei Zhou ◽  
Rong Xiang ◽  
...  

AbstractCervical cancer is the leading cause of death among women with cancer worldwide. Here, we performed an integrative analysis of Illumina HumanMethylation450K and RNA-seq data from TCGA to identify cervical cancer-specific DNA methylation markers. We first identified differentially methylated and expressed genes and examined the correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression. The DNA methylation profiles of 12 types of cancers, including cervical cancer, were used to generate a candidate set, and machine-learning techniques were adopted to define the final cervical cancer-specific markers in the candidate set. Then, we assessed the protein levels of marker genes by immunohistochemistry by using tissue arrays containing 93 human cervical squamous cell carcinoma samples and cancer-adjacent normal tissues. Promoter methylation was negatively correlated with the local regulation of gene expression. In the distant regulation of gene expression, the methylation of hypermethylated genes was more likely to be negatively correlated with gene expression, while the methylation of hypomethylated genes was more likely to be positively correlated with gene expression. Moreover, we identified four cervical cancer-specific methylation markers, cg07211381 (RAB3C), cg12205729 (GABRA2), cg20708961 (ZNF257), and cg26490054 (SLC5A8), with 96.2% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity by using the tenfold cross-validation of TCGA data. The four markers could distinguish tumors from normal tissues with a 94.2, 100, 100, and 100% AUC in four independent validation sets from the GEO database. Overall, our study demonstrates the potential use of methylation markers in cervical cancer diagnosis and may boost the development of new epigenetic therapies.


2010 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 165-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asli Silahtaroglu ◽  
Jan Stenvang

Epigenetics is defined as the heritable chances that affect gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. Epigenetic regulation of gene expression can be through different mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modifications and nucleosome positioning. MicroRNAs are short RNA molecules which do not code for a protein but have a role in post-transcriptional silencing of multiple target genes by binding to their 3′ UTRs (untranslated regions). Both epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, and the microRNAs are crucial for normal differentiation, development and maintenance of tissue-specific gene expression. These mechanisms also explain how cells with the same DNA content can differentiate into cells with different functions. Changes in epigenetic processes can lead to changes in gene function, cancer formation and progression, as well as other diseases. In the present chapter we will mainly focus on microRNAs and methylation and their implications in human disease, mainly in cancer.


Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 348 (6230) ◽  
pp. 1258699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaushik Ragunathan ◽  
Gloria Jih ◽  
Danesh Moazed

Changes in histone posttranslational modifications are associated with epigenetic states that define distinct patterns of gene expression. It remains unclear whether epigenetic information can be transmitted through histone modifications independently of specific DNA sequence, DNA methylation, or RNA interference. Here we show that, in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, ectopically induced domains of histone H3 lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me), a conserved marker of heterochromatin, are inherited through several mitotic and meiotic cell divisions after removal of the sequence-specific initiator. The putative JmjC domain H3K9 demethylase, Epe1, and the chromodomain of the H3K9 methyltransferase, Clr4/Suv39h, play opposing roles in maintaining silent H3K9me domains. These results demonstrate how a direct “read-write” mechanism involving Clr4 propagates histone modifications and allows histones to act as carriers of epigenetic information.


The Nucleus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurab Aditya Dhar ◽  
Shagnik Saha ◽  
Parama Mitra ◽  
Ronita Nag Chaudhuri

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. eaau6986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Wang ◽  
Patrick A. Ozark ◽  
Edwin R. Smith ◽  
Zibo Zhao ◽  
Stacy A. Marshall ◽  
...  

The tet methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) enzyme catalyzes the conversion of the modified DNA base 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine. TET2 is frequently mutated or dysregulated in multiple human cancers, and loss of TET2 is associated with changes in DNA methylation patterns. Here, using newly developed TET2-specific antibodies and the estrogen response as a model system for studying the regulation of gene expression, we demonstrate that endogenous TET2 occupies active enhancers and facilitates the proper recruitment of estrogen receptor α (ERα). Knockout of TET2 by CRISPR-CAS9 leads to a global increase of DNA methylation at enhancers, resulting in attenuation of the estrogen response. We further identified a positive feedback loop between TET2 and ERα, which further requires MLL3 COMPASS at these enhancers. Together, this study reveals an epigenetic axis coordinating a transcriptional program through enhancer activation via DNA demethylation.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. e30515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andriy Bilichak ◽  
Yaroslav Ilnystkyy ◽  
Jens Hollunder ◽  
Igor Kovalchuk

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1376-1397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanhui Zhai ◽  
Zhiren Zhang ◽  
Hao Yu ◽  
Li Su ◽  
Gang Yao ◽  
...  

Background/Aims: DNA methylation and histone modifications are essential epigenetic marks that can significantly affect the mammalian somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryo development. However, the mechanisms by which the DNA methylation affects the epigenetic reprogramming have not been fully elucidated. Methods: In our study, we used quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), Western blotting, immunofluorescence staining (IF) and sodium bisulfite genomic sequencing to examine the effects of RG108, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor (DNMTi), on the dynamic pattern of DNA methylation and histone modifications in porcine SCNT embryos and investigate the mechanism by which the epigenome status of donor cells’ affects SCNT embryos development and the crosstalk between epigenetic signals. Results: Our results showed that active DNA demethylation was enhanced by the significantly improving expression levels of TET1, TET2, TET3 and 5hmC, and passive DNA demethylation was promoted by the remarkably inhibitory expression levels of DNMT1, DNMT3A and 5mC in embryos constructed from the fetal fibroblasts (FFs) treated with RG108 (RG-SCNT embryos) compared to the levels in embryos from control FFs (FF-SCNT embryos). The signal intensity of histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) and histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9Ac) was significantly increased and the expression levels of H3K4 methyltransferases were more than 2-fold higher expression in RG-SCNT embryos. RG-SCNT embryos had significantly higher cleavage and blastocyst rates (69.3±1.4%, and 24.72±2.3%, respectively) than FF-SCNT embryos (60.1±2.4% and 18.38±1.9%, respectively). Conclusion: Dynamic changes in DNA methylation caused by RG108 result in dynamic alterations in the patterns of H3K4me3, H3K9Ac and histone H3 lysine 9 trimethylation (H3K9me3), which leads to the activation of embryonic genome and epigenetic modification enzymes associated with H3K4 methylation, and contributes to reconstructing normal epigenetic modifications and improving the developmental efficiency of porcine SCNT embryos.


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