BioProject

The functional organization of eukaryotic genomes correlates with specific patterns of histone methylations. More...

The functional organization of eukaryotic genomes correlates with specific patterns of histone methylations. Regulatory regions in genomes like enhancers and promoters differ in their extent of methylation of histone H3 at lysine-4 (H3K4), but it is largely unknown how the different methylation states are specified and controlled. Here, we show that the Kdm5c/Jarid1c/SMCX member of the Kdm5 family of H3K4 demethylases can be recruited to both enhancer and promoter elements in embryonic stem cells and neuronal progenitor cells via gene-specific transcription factors. Knockdown of Kdm5c deregulates transcription via local increases in H3K4me3. Our data show that restricting H3K4me3 modification at core promoters dampens transcription, but Kdm5c is required at enhancers for their full activity. Remarkably, an impaired enhancer function activates the intrinsic promoter activity of Kdm5c-bound distal elements. Our results demonstrate that the Kdm5c demethylase plays a crucial and dynamic role in the functional discrimination between enhancers and core promoters. Overall design: RNA from four independent cultures from each sh Kdm5c #1, sh Kdm5c #2 and non-targeting shRNA polyclonal cell lines were hybridized in dye-swap against a common reference of RNA from IB10 ES cells. Less...