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Acetylation of histone H3K23 has emerged as an essential posttranslational modification associated with cancer and learning and memory impairment, yet our understanding of this epigenetic mark remains insufficient. Here, we identify the native MORF complex as a histone H3K23-specific acetyltransferase and elucidate its mechanism of action. The acetyltransferase function of the catalytic MORF subunit is positively regulated by the DPF domain of MORF (MORFDPF). The crystal structure of MORFDPF in complex with crotonylated H3K14 peptide provides mechanistic insight into selectivity of this epigenetic reader and its ability to recognize both histone and DNA. ChIP data reveal the role of MORFDPF in MORF-dependent H3K23 acetylation of target genes. Mass spectrometry, biochemical and genomic analyses show co-existence of the H3K23ac and H3K14ac modifications in vitro and co-occupancy of the MORF complex, H3K23ac, and H3K14ac at specific loci in vivo. Our findings suggest a model in which interaction of MORFDPF with acylated H3K14 promotes acetylation of H3K23 by the native MORF complex to activate transcription., Acetylation of histone H3K23 has emerged as an essential posttranslational modification, yet this epigenetic mark remains poorly understood. Here, the authors identify the native MORF complex as a histone H3K23-specific acetyltransferase and show that interaction of the MORF subunit with acylated H3K14 promotes acetylation of H3K23 by this complex to activate transcription.

International audience; During cell division, maintenance of chromatin features from the parental genome requires their proper establishment on its newly synthetized copy. The loss of epigenetic marks within heterochromatin, typically enriched in repetitive elements, endangers genome stability and permits chromosomal rearrangements via recombination. However, how histone modifications associated with heterochromatin are maintained across mitosis remains poorly understood. KAP1 is known to act as a scaffold for a repressor complex that mediates local heterochromatin formation, and was previously demonstrated to play an important role during DNA repair. Accordingly, we investigated a putative role for this protein in the replication of heterochromatic regions. We first found that KAP1 associates with several DNA replication factors including PCNA, MCM3 and MCM6. We then observed that these interactions are promoted by KAP1 phosphorylation on serine 473 during S phase. Finally, we could demonstrate that KAP1 forms a complex with PCNA and the histone-lysine methyltransferase Suv39h1 to reinstate heterochromatin after DNA replication.

The transcriptional activator MyoD serves as a master controller of myogenesis. Often in partnership with Mef2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2), MyoD binds to the promoters of hundreds of muscle genes in proliferating myoblasts yet activates these targets only upon receiving cues that launch differentiation. What regulates this off/on switch of MyoD function has been incompletely understood, although it is known to reflect the action of chromatin modifiers. Here, we identify KAP1 (KRAB [Krüppel-like associated box]-associated protein 1)/TRIM28 (tripartite motif protein 28) as a key regulator of MyoD function. In myoblasts, KAP1 is present with MyoD and Mef2 at many muscle genes, where it acts as a scaffold to recruit not only coactivators such as p300 and LSD1 but also corepressors such as G9a and HDAC1 (histone deacetylase 1), with promoter silencing as the net outcome. Upon differentiation, MSK1-mediated phosphorylation of KAP1 releases the corepressors from the scaffold, unleashing transcriptional activation by MyoD/Mef2 and their positive cofactors. Thus, our results reveal KAP1 as a previously unappreciated interpreter of cell signaling, which modulates the ability of MyoD to drive myogenesis.

Chromodomains are found in many regulators of chromatin structure, and most of them recognize methylated lysines on histones. Here, we investigate the role of the Drosophila melanogaster protein Corto's chromodomain. The Enhancer of Trithorax and Polycomb Corto is involved in both silencing and activation of gene expression. Over-expression of the Corto chromodomain (CortoCD) in transgenic flies shows that it is a chromatin-targeting module, critical for Corto function. Unexpectedly, mass spectrometry analysis reveals that polypeptides pulled down by CortoCD from nuclear extracts correspond to ribosomal proteins. Furthermore, real-time interaction analyses demonstrate that CortoCD binds with high affinity RPL12 tri-methylated on lysine 3. Corto and RPL12 co-localize with active epigenetic marks on polytene chromosomes, suggesting that both are involved in fine-tuning transcription of genes in open chromatin. RNA–seq based transcriptomes of wing imaginal discs over-expressing either CortoCD or RPL12 reveal that both factors deregulate large sets of common genes, which are enriched in heat-response and ribosomal protein genes, suggesting that they could be implicated in dynamic coordination of ribosome biogenesis. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show that Corto and RPL12 bind hsp70 and are similarly recruited on gene body after heat shock. Hence, Corto and RPL12 could be involved together in regulation of gene transcription. We discuss whether pseudo-ribosomal complexes composed of various ribosomal proteins might participate in regulation of gene expression in connection with chromatin regulators., Author Summary Chromatin, the combination of DNA and histones, strongly impacts transcriptional regulation of genes. This is achieved thanks to various protein complexes that bind chromatin and remodel its structure. These complexes bind specific motifs, also called epigenetic marks, through specific protein domains. Among these domains, chromodomains are well known to bind methylated histones. Investigating the chromodomain of the Drosophila melanogaster chromatin factor Corto, we found that it interacts with methylated ribosomal protein L12 rather than with methylated histones. This is the first time that such an interaction is shown. Moreover, Corto and RPL12 co-localize with active epigenetic marks on polytene chromosomes, suggesting that both are involved in fine-tuning transcription of genes. Our results represent a major breakthrough in the understanding of mechanisms by which ribosomal proteins achieve extra-ribosomal functions such as transcriptional regulation. Genome-wide analysis of larval tissue transcripts reveals that Corto and RPL12 deregulate large sets of common genes, which are enriched in ribosomal protein genes, suggesting that both proteins are implicated in dynamic coordination of ribosome biogenesis.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a highly prevalent pathogen that induces life-long infections notably through the establishment of latency in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Bouts of reactivation are normally controlled by the immune system, but can be fatal in immuno-compromised individuals such as organ transplant recipients. Here, we reveal that HCMV latency in human CD34+ HSC reflects the recruitment on the viral genome of KAP1, a master co-repressor, together with HP1 and the SETDB1 histone methyltransferase, which results in transcriptional silencing. During lytic infection, KAP1 is still associated with the viral genome, but its heterochromatin-inducing activity is suppressed by mTOR-mediated phosphorylation. Correspondingly, HCMV can be forced out of latency by KAP1 knockdown or pharmacological induction of KAP1 phosphorylation, and this process can be potentiated by activating NFkB with TNF-α. These results suggest new approaches both to curtail CMV infection and to purge the virus from organ transplants. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06068.001, eLife digest Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an extremely common virus that causes life-long infections in humans. Most individuals are exposed to HCMV during childhood, and the infection rarely causes any symptoms of disease in healthy individuals. However, in people with weaker immune systems—for example, newborn babies, people with AIDS, or individuals who have received an organ transplant—HCMV can cause life-threatening illnesses. It is difficult for the immune system to fight the infection because HCMV is able to hide in cells within the bone marrow called hematopoietic stem cells. Inside these cells, the virus can survive in a ‘dormant’ state for many years, before being reactivated and starting to multiply again. In most people, the immune system manages to control this new outbreak of HCMV, and the virus becomes dormant again, but reactivation of the virus in individuals with weakened immune systems is much more likely to cause serious illness. The results of previous studies suggest that when HCMV infects the hematopoietic stem cells, human proteins switch off the expression of many virus genes, which makes the virus inactive. The virus can be reactivated when infected stem cells change into a type of immune cell called dendritic cells, but it is not clear how this is controlled. Here, Rauwel et al. reveal that a human protein called KAP1 is responsible for switching off the virus genes in the stem cells. It does so by interacting with two other proteins to alter the structure of the DNA in these genes. However, if the stem cells are stimulated to change into dendritic cells, KAP1 becomes inactive, which allows the virus genes to be switched on. Rauwel et al. also show that it is possible to force HCMV out of its dormant state by using drugs to block the activity of KAP1. This may aid the development of treatments that prevent the virus from causing serious illness in patients with weakened immune systems. For example, it could be used to remove dormant HCMV infections from bone marrow before it is transplanted into a new individual. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06068.002

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the fifth‐most common form of cancer worldwide and carries a high mortality rate attributed to lack of effective treatment. Males are 8 times more likely to develop HCC than females, an effect largely driven by sex hormones, albeit through still poorly understood mechanisms. We previously identified TRIM28 (tripartite protein 28), a scaffold protein capable of recruiting a number of chromatin modifiers, as a crucial mediator of sexual dimorphism in the liver. Trim28hep–/– mice display sex‐specific transcriptional deregulation of a wide range of bile and steroid metabolism genes and development of liver adenomas in males. We now demonstrate that obesity and aging precipitate alterations of TRIM28‐dependent transcriptional dynamics, leading to a metabolic infection state responsible for highly penetrant male‐restricted hepatic carcinogenesis. Molecular analyses implicate aberrant androgen receptor stimulation, biliary acid disturbances, and altered responses to gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of Trim28hep–/–‐associated HCC. Correspondingly, androgen deprivation markedly attenuates the frequency and severity of tumors, and raising animals under axenic conditions completely abrogates their abnormal phenotype, even upon high‐fat diet challenge. Conclusion: This work underpins how discrete polyphenic traits in epigenetically metastable conditions can contribute to a cancer‐prone state and more broadly provides new evidence linking hormonal imbalances, metabolic disturbances, gut microbiota, and cancer. (Hepatology 2017;66:235–251).

KAP1 (KRAB-associated protein 1) is best known as a co-repressor responsible for inducing heterochromatin formation, notably at transposable elements. However, it has also been observed to bind the transcription start site of actively expressed genes. To address this paradox, we characterized the protein interactome of KAP1 in the human K562 erythro-leukaemia cell line. We found that the regulator can associate with a wide range of nucleic acid binding proteins, nucleosome remodellers, chromatin modifiers and other transcription modulators. We further determined that KAP1 is recruited at actively transcribed polymerase II promoters, where its depletion resulted in pleomorphic effects, whether expression of these genes was normally constitutive or inducible, consistent with the breadth of possible KAP1 interactors. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Crossroads between transposons and gene regulation’.