Histone acetylation is a hallmark for gene transcription. As a histone acetyltransferase, MOZ (monocytic leukemia zinc finger protein) is important for HOX gene expression as well as embryo and postnatal development. In vivo, MOZ forms a tetrameric complex with other subunits, including several chromatin-binding modules with regulatory functions. Here we report the solution structure of the tandem PHD (plant homeodomain) finger (PHD12) of human MOZ in a free state and the 1.47 Å crystal structure in complex with H3K14ac peptide, which reveals the structural basis for the recognition of unmodified R2 and acetylated K14 on histone H3. Moreover, the results of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RT-PCR assays indicate that PHD12 facilitates the localization of MOZ onto the promoter locus of the HOXA9 gene, thereby promoting the H3 acetylation around the promoter region and further up-regulating the HOXA9 mRNA level. Taken together, our findings suggest that the combinatorial readout of the H3R2/K14ac by PHD12 might represent an important epigenetic regulatory mechanism that governs transcription and also provide a clue of cross-talk between the MOZ complex and histone H3 modifications.

Group II introns are self-splicing ribozymes that are essential in many organisms, and they are hypothesized to share a common evolutionary ancestor with the spliceosome. While structural similarity of RNA components supports this connection, it is of interest to determine whether associated protein factors also share an evolutionary heritage. Here we present the crystal structures of reverse transcriptase (RT) domains from two group II intron encoded proteins (maturases) from Roseburia intestinalis and Eubacterium rectale, obtained at 1.2 Å and 2.1 Å respectively. Their architecture is more similar to the spliceosomal Prp8 RT-like domain than to any other RTs, and they share substantial similarity with flaviviral RNA polymerases. The RT domain itself is sufficient for binding intron RNA with high affinity and specificity, and it is contained within an active RT enzyme. These studies provide a foundation for understanding structure-function relationships within group II intron–maturase complexes.

Enhancers play a pivotal role in regulating the transcription of distal genes. Although certain chromatin features, such as the histone acetyltransferase P300 and the histone modification H3K4me1, indicate the presence of enhancers, only a fraction of enhancers are functionally active. Individual chromatin marks, such as H3K27ac and H3K27me3, have been identified to distinguish active from inactive enhancers. However, the systematic identification of the most informative single modification, or combination thereof, is still lacking. Furthermore, the discovery of enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) provides an alternative approach to directly predicting enhancer activity. However, it remains challenging to link chromatin modifications to eRNA transcription. Herein, we develop a logistic regression model to unravel the relationship between chromatin modifications and eRNA synthesis. We perform a systematic assessment of 24 chromatin modifications in fetal lung fibroblast and demonstrate that a combination of four modifications is sufficient to accurately predict eRNA transcription. Furthermore, we compare the ability of eRNAs and H3K27ac to discriminate enhancer activity. We demonstrate that eRNA is more indicative of enhancer activity. Finally, we apply our fibroblast trained model to six other cell-types and successfully predict eRNA synthesis. Thus, we demonstrate the learned relationships are general and independent of cell-type. We provided a powerful tool to identify active enhancers and reveal the relationship between chromatin modifications, eRNA production and enhancer activity.

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Methylation of H4K20 (Lys(20) of histone H4) plays an important role in the regulation of diverse cellular processes. In fission yeast, all three states of H4K20 methylation are catalysed by Set9. Pdp1 is a PWWP (proline-tryptophan-tryptophan-proline) domain-containing protein, which associates with Set9 to regulate its chromatin localization and methyltransferase activity towards H4K20. The structure of the Pdp1 PWWP domain, which is the first PWWP domain identified which binds to methyl-lysine at the H4K20 site, was determined in the present study by solution NMR. The Pdp1 PWWP domain adopts a classical PWWP fold, with a five-strand antiparallel β-barrel followed by three α-helices. However, it differs significantly from other PWWP domains in some structural aspects that account, in part, for its molecular recognition. Moreover, we revealed a unique binding pattern of the PWWP domain, in that the PWWP domain of Pdp1 bound not only to H4K20me3 (trimethylated Lys(20) of histone H4), but also to dsDNA (double-stranded DNA) via an aromatic cage and a positively charged area respectively. EMSAs (electrophoretic mobility-shift assays) illustrated the ability of the Pdp1 PWWP domain to bind to the nucleosome core particle, and further mutagenesis experiments indicated the crucial role of this binding activity in histone H4K20 di- and tri-methylation in yeast cells. The present study may shed light on a novel mechanism of histone methylation regulation by the PWWP domain.