2016年11月
Molecular mechanisms of transcriptional regulation by the nuclear zinc-finger protein Zfat in T cells
BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-GENE REGULATORY MECHANISMS
- 巻
- 1859
- 号
- 11
- 開始ページ
- 1398
- 終了ページ
- 1410
- 記述言語
- 英語
- 掲載種別
- 研究論文(学術雑誌)
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2016.08.010
- 出版者・発行元
- ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
Zfat is a nuclear protein with AT-hook and zinc-finger domains. We previously reported that Zfat plays crucial roles in T-cell survival and development in mice. However, the molecular mechanisms whereby Zfat regulates gene expression in T cells remain unexplored. In this study, we analyzed the genome-wide occupancy of Zfat by chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq), which showed that Zfat bound predominantly to a region around a transcription start site (TSS), and that an 8-bp nucleotide sequence GAA(T/A)(C/G)TGC was identified as a consensus sequence for Zfat-binding sites. Furthermore, about half of the Zfat-binding sites were characterized by histone H3 acetylations at lysine 9 and lysine 27 (H3K9ac/K27ac). Notably, Zfat gene deletion decreased the H3K9ac/K27ac levels at the Zfat-binding sites, suggesting that Zfat may be related to the regulation of H3K9ac/K27ac. Integrated analysis of ChIP-seq and transcriptional profiling in thymocytes identified Zfat-target genes with transcription to be regulated directly by Zfat. We then focused on the chromatin regulator Brpf1, a Zfat-target gene, revealing that Zfat bound directly to a 9-bp nucleotide sequence, CGAANGTGC, which is conserved among mammalian Brpf1 promoters. Furthermore, retrovirus-mediated re-expression of Zfat in Zfat-deficient peripheral T cells restored Brpf1 expression to normal levels, and shRNA-mediated Brpf1 knockdown in peripheral T cells increased the proportion of apoptotic cells, suggesting that Zfat-regulated Brpf1 expression was important for T-cell survival. Our findings demonstrated that Zfat regulates the transcription of target genes by binding directly to the TSS proximal region, and that Zfat-target genes play important roles in T-cell homeostasis. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
- リンク情報
- ID情報
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- DOI : 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2016.08.010
- ISSN : 1874-9399
- eISSN : 0006-3002
- Web of Science ID : WOS:000387195900005