A key step in many chromatin-related processes is the recognition of histone post-translational modifications by effector modules such as bromodomains and chromo-like domains of the Royal family. Whereas effector-mediated recognition of single post-translational modifications is well characterized, how the cell achieves combinatorial readout of histones bearing multiple modifications is poorly understood. One mechanism involves multivalent binding by linked effector modules. For example, the tandem bromodomains of human TATA-binding protein-associated factor-1 (TAF1) bind better to a diacetylated histone H4 tail than to monoacetylated tails, a cooperative effect attributed to each bromodomain engaging one acetyl-lysine mark. Here we report a distinct mechanism of combinatorial readout for the mouse TAF1 homologue Brdt, a testis-specific member of the BET protein family. Brdt associates with hyperacetylated histone H4 (ref. 7) and is implicated in the marked chromatin remodelling that follows histone hyperacetylation during spermiogenesis, the stage of spermatogenesis in which post-meiotic germ cells mature into fully differentiated sperm. Notably, we find that a single bromodomain (BD1) of Brdt is responsible for selectively recognizing histone H4 tails bearing two or more acetylation marks. The crystal structure of BD1 bound to a diacetylated H4 tail shows how two acetyl-lysine residues cooperate to interact with one binding pocket. Structure-based mutagenesis that reduces the selectivity of BD1 towards diacetylated tails destabilizes the association of Brdt with acetylated chromatin in vivo. Structural analysis suggests that other chromatin-associated proteins may be capable of a similar mode of ligand recognition, including yeast Bdf1, human TAF1 and human CBP/p300 (also known as CREBBP and EP300, respectively). Our findings describe a new mechanism for the combinatorial readout of histone modifications in which a single effector module engages two marks on a histone tail as a composite binding epitope.

The immunopurification of the endogenous cytoplasmic murine histone deacetylase 6 (mHDAC6), a member of the class II HDACs, from mouse testis cytosolic extracts allowed the identification of two associated proteins. Both were mammalian homologues of yeast proteins known to interact with each other and involved in the ubiquitin signaling pathway: p97/VCP/Cdc48p, a homologue of yeast Cdc48p, and phospholipase A2-activating protein, a homologue of yeast UFD3 (ubiquitin fusion degradation protein 3). Moreover, in the C-terminal region of mHDAC6, a conserved zinc finger-containing domain named ZnF-UBP, also present in several ubiquitin-specific proteases, was discovered and was shown to mediate the specific binding of ubiquitin by mHDAC6. By using a ubiquitin pull-down approach, nine major ubiquitin-binding proteins were identified in mouse testis cytosolic extracts, and mHDAC6 was found to be one of them. All of these findings strongly suggest that mHDAC6 could be involved in the control of protein ubiquitination. The investigation of biochemical properties of the mHDAC6 complex in vitro further supported this hypothesis and clearly established a link between protein acetylation and protein ubiquitination.An increasing number of histone deacetylases (HDACs) are being characterized in higher eukaryotes. These proteins have been grouped in distinct families according to the similarity of their sequence to a yeast founding member. Class I HDACs are homologous to yeast RPD3, while class II members are related to yeast HDA1 and class III members are related to yeast SIR2 deacetylase (13,20). Class I HDACs are found in various nuclear multiprotein complexes containing either HDAC1/2 or HDAC3. Class II HDACs show the interesting property of being capable of a nucleocytoplasmic shuttling. Indeed, all of the class II HDACs, HDAC4, -5, -6, and -7, are subject to a regulated intracellular localization (20). Although there is evidence for a role for some of these HDACs in transcriptional repression, their possible function in the cytoplasm remains elusive (20,21). Within these enzymes, the endogenous HDAC6 was found to be essentially cytoplasmic (2, 37). A fraction of the murine HDAC6 (mHDAC6) translocates, however, in the nucleus under specific circumstances, such as arrest of cell proliferation (37). In order to gain an insight into the function of cytoplasmic HDACs, cytosolic mHDAC6 was immunopurified from mouse testis cytosolic extracts. The identified mHDAC6-associated proteins showed striking sequence homology to yeast regulatory proteins involved in the control of protein ubiquitination. These proteins are the mammalian homologue of yeast UFD3, known as phospholipase A2-activating protein (PLAP) (12), as well as the homologue of yeast Cdc48p AAA ATPase (p97/VCP/Cdc48p) (11). The UFD pathway was discovered in yeast after the observation that a protein containing a nonremovable N-terminal ubiquitin (Ub) moiety had a short half-life (19). The protein degradation pathway involved was called UFD, for Ub fusion degradation. A ...

Male germ cell differentiation is a highly regulated multistep process initiated by the commitment of progenitor cells into meiosis and characterized by major chromatin reorganizations in haploid spermatids. We report here that a single member of the double bromodomain BET factors, Brdt, is a master regulator of both meiotic divisions and post-meiotic genome repackaging. Upon its activation at the onset of meiosis, Brdt drives and determines the developmental timing of a testis-specific gene expression program. In meiotic and post-meiotic cells, Brdt initiates a genuine histone acetylation-guided programming of the genome by activating essential genes and repressing a 'progenitor cells' gene expression program. At postmeiotic stages, a global chromatin hyperacetylation gives the signal for Brdt's first bromodomain to direct the genome-wide replacement of histones by transition proteins. Brdt is therefore a unique and essential regulator of male germ cell differentiation, which, by using various domains in a developmentally controlled manner, first drives a specific spermatogenic gene expression program, and later controls the tight packaging of the male genome.