CpG island structure and trithorax/polycomb chromatin domains in human cells

EZH2 Cooperates with BRD4-NUT to Drive NUT Carcinoma Growth by Silencing Key Tumor Suppressor Genes

NUT carcinoma is an aggressive carcinoma driven by the BRD4-NUT fusion oncoprotein, which activates chromatin to promote expression of progrowth genes. BET bromodomain inhibitors (BETi) are a promising treatment for NUT carcinoma that can impede BRD4-NUT's ability to activate genes, but the efficacy of BETi as monotherapy is limited. Here, we demonstrated that enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), which silences genes through establishment of repressive chromatin, is a dependency in NUT carcinoma. Inhibition of EZH2 with the clinical compound tazemetostat potently blocked growth of NUT carcinoma cells. Epigenetic and transcriptomic analysis revealed that tazemetostat reversed the EZH2-specific H3K27me3 silencing mark and restored expression of multiple tumor suppressor genes while having no effect on key oncogenic BRD4-NUT-regulated genes. Indeed, H3K27me3 and H3K27ac domains were found to be mutually exclusive in NUT carcinoma cells. CDKN2A was identified as the only gene among all tazemetostat-derepressed genes to confer resistance to tazemetostat in a CRISPR-Cas9 screen. Combined inhibition of EZH2 and BET synergized to downregulate cell proliferation genes, resulting in more pronounced growth arrest and differentiation than either inhibitor alone. In preclinical models, combined tazemetostat and BETi synergistically blocked tumor growth and prolonged survival of NUT carcinoma-xenografted mice, with complete remission without relapse in one cohort. Identification of EZH2 as a dependency in NUT carcinoma substantiates the reliance of NUT carcinoma tumor cells on epigenetic dysregulation of functionally opposite, yet highly complementary, chromatin regulatory pathways to maintain NUT carcinoma growth.

SIGNIFICANCE

Repression of tumor suppressor genes, including CDKN2A, by EZH2 provides a mechanistic rationale for combining EZH2 and BET inhibitors for the clinical treatment of NUT carcinoma. See related commentary by Kazansky and Kentsis, p. 3827.

EZH2 synergizes with BRD4-NUT to drive NUT carcinoma growth through silencing of key tumor suppressor genes

NUT carcinoma (NC) is an aggressive carcinoma driven by the BRD4-NUT fusion oncoprotein, which activates chromatin to promote expression of pro-growth genes. BET bromodomain inhibitors (BETi) impede BRD4-NUT's ability to activate genes and are thus a promising treatment but limited as monotherapy. The role of gene repression in NC is unknown. Here, we demonstrate that EZH2, which silences genes through establishment of repressive chromatin, is a dependency in NC. Inhibition of EZH2 with the clinical compound tazemetostat (taz) potently blocked growth of NC cells. Epigenetic and transcriptomic analysis revealed that taz reversed the EZH2-specific H3K27me3 silencing mark, and restored expression of multiple tumor suppressor genes while having no effect on key oncogenic BRD4- NUT-regulated genes. CDKN2A was identified as the only gene amongst all taz-derepressed genes to confer resistance to taz in a CRISPR-Cas9 screen. Combined EZH2 inhibition and BET inhibition synergized to downregulate cell proliferation genes resulting in more pronounced growth arrest and differentiation than either inhibitor alone. In pre-clinical models, combined taz and BETi synergistically blocked growth and prolonged survival of NC-xenografted mice, with all mice cured in one cohort.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Identification of EZH2 as a dependency in NC substantiates the reliance of NC tumor cells on epigenetic dysregulation of functionally opposite, yet highly complementary chromatin regulatory pathways to maintain NC growth. In particular, repression of CDKN2A expression by EZH2 provides a mechanistic rationale for combining EZH2i with BETi for the clinical treatment of NC.

NSD1 mutations deregulate transcription and DNA methylation of bivalent developmental genes in Sotos syndrome

Sotos syndrome (SS), the most common overgrowth with intellectual disability (OGID) disorder, is caused by inactivating germline mutations of NSD1, which encodes a histone H3 lysine 36 methyltransferase. To understand how NSD1 inactivation deregulates transcription and DNA methylation (DNAm), and to explore how these abnormalities affect human development, we profiled transcription and DNAm in SS patients and healthy control individuals. We identified a transcriptional signature that distinguishes individuals with SS from controls and was also deregulated in NSD1-mutated cancers. Most abnormally expressed genes displayed reduced expression in SS; these downregulated genes consisted mostly of bivalent genes and were enriched for regulators of development and neural synapse function. DNA hypomethylation was strongly enriched within promoters of transcriptionally deregulated genes: overexpressed genes displayed hypomethylation at their transcription start sites while underexpressed genes featured hypomethylation at polycomb binding sites within their promoter CpG island shores. SS patients featured accelerated molecular aging at the levels of both transcription and DNAm. Overall, these findings indicate that NSD1-deposited H3K36 methylation regulates transcription by directing promoter DNA methylation, partially by repressing polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) activity. These findings could explain the phenotypic similarity of SS to OGID disorders that are caused by mutations in PRC2 complex-encoding genes.

H3K27me3-rich genomic regions can function as silencers to repress gene expression via chromatin interactions

The mechanisms underlying gene repression and silencers are poorly understood. Here we investigate the hypothesis that H3K27me3-rich regions of the genome, defined from clusters of H3K27me3 peaks, may be used to identify silencers that can regulate gene expression via proximity or looping. We find that H3K27me3-rich regions are associated with chromatin interactions and interact preferentially with each other. H3K27me3-rich regions component removal at interaction anchors by CRISPR leads to upregulation of interacting target genes, altered H3K27me3 and H3K27ac levels at interacting regions, and altered chromatin interactions. Chromatin interactions did not change at regions with high H3K27me3, but regions with low H3K27me3 and high H3K27ac levels showed changes in chromatin interactions. Cells with H3K27me3-rich regions knockout also show changes in phenotype associated with cell identity, and altered xenograft tumor growth. Finally, we observe that H3K27me3-rich regions-associated genes and long-range chromatin interactions are susceptible to H3K27me3 depletion. Our results characterize H3K27me3-rich regions and their mechanisms of functioning via looping.

A Rare Case of Human Diphallia Associated with Hypospadias

Diphallia or penile duplication is a rare congenital variant with an estimated frequency of 1 per 5 to 6 million live births. The extent of duplication varies widely and typically occurs with other malformations including urogenital, gastrointestinal, and musculoskeletal anomalies. Here we present a case of human diphallia that was detected during routine dissection of an 84-year-old cadaver. Upon thorough examination, this case was characterized as a complete bifid penis which was accompanied by hypospadias with no other anatomical abnormalities detected. To gain insights into the etiology of this case, we analyzed DNA procured from the body for putative genetic variants using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. Our results support clinical observations consistent with human diphallia being a polygenic syndrome and identify new genetic variants that might underlie its etiology.

CpG island composition differences are a source of gene expression noise indicative of promoter responsiveness

BACKGROUND

Population phenotypic variation can arise from genetic differences between individuals, or from cellular heterogeneity in an isogenic group of cells or organisms. The emergence of gene expression differences between genetically identical cells is referred to as gene expression noise, the sources of which are not well understood.

RESULTS

In this work, by studying gene expression noise between multiple cell lineages and mammalian species, we find consistent evidence of a role for CpG islands as sources of gene expression noise. Variation in noise among CpG island promoters can be partially attributed to differences in island size, in which short islands have noisier gene expression. Building on these findings, we investigate the potential for short CpG islands to act as fast response elements to environmental stimuli. Specifically, we find that these islands are enriched amongst primary response genes in SWI/SNF-independent stimuli, suggesting that expression noise is an indicator of promoter responsiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus, through the integration of single-cell RNA expression profiling, chromatin landscape and temporal gene expression dynamics, we have uncovered a role for short CpG island promoters as fast response elements.

Epigenome in Early Mammalian Development: Inheritance, Reprogramming and Establishment

Drastic epigenetic reprogramming takes place during preimplantation development, leading to the conversion of terminally differentiated gametes to a totipotent embryo. Deficiencies in remodeling of the epigenomes can cause severe developmental defects, including embryonic lethality. However, how chromatin modifications and chromatin organization are reprogrammed upon fertilization in mammals has long remained elusive. Here, we review recent progress in understanding how the epigenome is dynamically regulated during early mammalian development. The latest studies, including many from genome-wide perspectives, have revealed unusual principles of reprogramming for histone modifications, chromatin accessibility, and 3D chromatin architecture. These advances have shed light on the regulatory network controlling the earliest development and maternal-zygotic transition.

Genome-wide positioning of bivalent mononucleosomes

Background

Bivalent chromatin refers to overlapping regions containing activating histone H3 Lys4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) and inactivating H3K27me3 marks. Existence of such bivalent marks on the same nucleosome has only recently been suggested. Previous genome-wide efforts to characterize bivalent chromatin have focused primarily on individual marks to define overlapping zones of bivalency rather than mapping positions of truly bivalent mononucleosomes.

Results

Here, we developed an efficacious sequential ChIP technique for examining global positioning of individual bivalent nucleosomes. Using next generation sequencing approaches we show that although individual H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 marks overlap in broad zones, bivalent nucleosomes are focally enriched in the vicinity of the transcription start site (TSS). These seem to occupy the H2A.Z nucleosome positions previously described as salt-labile nucleosomes, and are correlated with low gene expression. Although the enrichment profiles of bivalent nucleosomes show a clear dependency on CpG island content, they demonstrate a stark anti-correlation with methylation status.

Conclusions

We show that regional overlap of H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 chromatin tend to be upstream to the TSS, while bivalent nucleosomes with both marks are mainly promoter proximal near the TSS of CpG island-containing genes with poised/low expression. We discuss the implications of the focal enrichment of bivalent nucleosomes around the TSS on the poised chromatin state of promoters in stem cells.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12920-016-0221-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Enacts Wnt Signaling in Intestinal Homeostasis and Contributes to the Instigation of Stemness in Diseases Entailing Epithelial Hyperplasia or Neoplasia

Canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling regulates the homeostasis of intestinal epithelium by controlling the balance between intestinal stem cell self-renewal and differentiation but epigenetic mechanisms enacting the process are not known. We hypothesized that epigenetic regulator, Polycomb Repressive Complex-2 (PRC2), is involved in Wnt-mediated epithelial homeostasis on the crypt-villus axis and aberrancies therein are implicated both in celiac disease and in intestinal malignancies. We found that PRC2 establishes repressive crypt and villus specific trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3) signature on genes responsible for, for example, nutrient transport and cell killing in crypts and, for example, proliferation and differentiation in mature villi, suggesting that PRC2 facilitates the Wnt-governed intestinal homeostasis. When celiac patients are on gluten-containing diet PRC2 is out-of-bounds active and consequently its target genes were found affected in intestinal epithelium. Significant set of effective intestinal PRC2 targets are also differentially expressed in colorectal adenoma and carcinomas. Our results suggest that PRC2 gives rise and maintains polar crypt and villus specific H3K27me3 signatures. As H3K27me3 is a mark enriched in developmentally important genes, identified intestinal PRC2 targets are possibly imperative drivers for enterocyte differentiation and intestinal stem cell maintenance downstream to Wnt-signaling. Our work also elucidates the mechanism sustaining the crypt hyperplasia in celiac disease and suggest that PRC2-dependent fostering of epithelial stemness is a common attribute in intestinal diseases in which epithelial hyperplasia or neoplasia prevails. Finally, this work demonstrates that in intestine PRC2 represses genes having both pro-stemness and pro-differentiation functions, fact need to be considered when designing epigenetic therapies including PRC2 as a drug target. Stem Cells 2017;35:445-457.

PHF13 is a molecular reader and transcriptional co-regulator of H3K4me2/3

PHF13 is a chromatin affiliated protein with a functional role in differentiation, cell division, DNA damage response and higher chromatin order. To gain insight into PHF13's ability to modulate these processes, we elucidate the mechanisms targeting PHF13 to chromatin, its genome wide localization and its molecular chromatin context. Size exclusion chromatography, mass spectrometry, X-ray crystallography and ChIP sequencing demonstrate that PHF13 binds chromatin in a multivalent fashion via direct interactions with H3K4me2/3 and DNA, and indirectly via interactions with PRC2 and RNA PolII. Furthermore, PHF13 depletion disrupted the interactions between PRC2, RNA PolII S5P, H3K4me3 and H3K27me3 and resulted in the up and down regulation of genes functionally enriched in transcriptional regulation, DNA binding, cell cycle, differentiation and chromatin organization. Together our findings argue that PHF13 is an H3K4me2/3 molecular reader and transcriptional co-regulator, affording it the ability to impact different chromatin processes.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10607.001

In human and other eukaryotic cells, DNA is packaged around proteins called histones to form a structure known as chromatin. Chemical tags added to the histones alter how the DNA is packaged and the activity of the genes encoded by that DNA. For example, many active genes are packaged around histone H3 proteins that have “Lysine 4 tri-methyl” tags attached to them. Another protein that is associated with chromatin is called PHF13 and it has several roles, including repairing damaged DNA. However, it was not known whether PHF13 binds to chromatin via the chemical tags, or in another way.

Ho-Ryun, Xu, Fuchs et al. used several biochemical techniques in mouse and human cells to explore how PHF13 specifically interacts with chromatin. These experiments showed that PHF13 binds specifically to DNA and to two types of methyl tags (lysine 4-tri-methyl or lysine 4-di-methyl). These chemical tags are predominantly found at active promoters as well as at a small subset of less active promoters known as bivalent promoters. PHF13 interacted with other proteins on the chromatin that are known to either drive or repress gene activity and it’s depletion affected the activity of many genes. Whether PHF13 increased or decreased gene activity depended on whether it was bound to active or bivalent promoters. The active promoters targeted by PHF13 had higher numbers of the tri-methyl tags whereas the di-methyl tags were more common on the bivalent promoters.

These findings provide preliminary evidence that a protein binding to different methyl tags in the same place on histone H3 can have opposite effects on gene activity. Ho-Ryun, Xu, Fuchs et al. now intend to find out more about the other proteins that interact with PHF13 on chromatin.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.10607.002

Application of recombinant TAF3 PHD domain instead of anti-H3K4me3 antibody

Background

Histone posttranslational modifications (PTMs) represent a focal point of chromatin regulation. The genome-wide and locus-specific distribution and the presence of distinct histone PTMs is most commonly examined with the application of histone PTM-specific antibodies. In spite of their central role in chromatin research, polyclonal antibodies suffer from disadvantages like batch-to-batch variability and insufficient documentation of their quality and specificity.

Results

To mitigate some of the pitfalls of using polyclonal antibodies against H3K4me3, we successfully validated the application of a recombinant TAF3 PHD domain as anti-H3K4me3 affinity reagent in peptide array, western blot and ChIP-like experiments coupled with qPCR and deep sequencing.

Conclusions

The successful addition of the TAF3 PHD domain to the growing catalog of recombinant affinity reagents for histone PTMs could help to improve the reproducibility, interpretation and cross-laboratory validation of chromatin data.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13072-016-0061-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

High-wire act: the poised genome and cellular memory

Emerging evidence aided by genome-wide analysis of chromatin and transcriptional states has shed light on the mechanisms by which stem cells achieve cellular memory. The epigenetic and transcriptional plasticity governing stem cell behavior is highlighted by the identification of 'poised' genes, which permit cells to maintain readiness to undertake alternate developmental fates. This review focuses on two crucial mechanisms of gene poising: bivalent chromatin marks and RNA polymerase II stalling. We provide the context for these mechanisms by exploring the current consensus on the regulation of chromatin states, especially in quiescent adult stem cells, where poised genes are critical for recapitulating developmental choices, leading to regenerative function.

TRIM37 is a new histone H2A ubiquitin ligase and breast cancer oncoprotein

The TRIM37 (or MUL) gene is located in the 17q23 chromosomal region, which is amplified in up to ~40% of breast cancers¹. TRIM37 contains a RING finger domain, a hallmark of E3 ubiquitin ligases², but its protein substrate(s) is unknown. Here we report that TRIM37 mono-ubiquitinates histone H2A, a chromatin modification associated with transcriptional repression³. We find that in human breast cancer cell lines containing amplified 17q23, TRIM37 is upregulated and, reciprocally, the major H2A ubiquitin ligase RNF2^3,4 (also called RING1B) is downregulated. Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-chip experiments in 17q23-amplified breast cancer cells identified many genes, including multiple tumour suppressors, whose promoters were bound by TRIM37 and enriched for ubiquitinated H2A (H2A-ub). However, unlike RNF2, which is a subunit of Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1)^3–5, we find that TRIM37 associates with Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2). TRIM37, PRC2 and PRC1 are co-bound to specific target genes resulting in their transcriptional silencing. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knockdown of TRIM37 results in loss of H2A-ub, dissociation of PRC1 and PRC2 from target promoters, and transcriptional reactivation of silenced genes. Knockdown of TRIM37 in human breast cancer cells containing amplified 17q23 substantially decreases tumour growth in mouse xenografts. Conversely, ectopic expression of TRIM37 renders non-transformed cells tumorigenic. Collectively, our results reveal TRIM37 as an oncogenic H2A ubiquitin ligase that is overexpressed in a subset of breast cancers and promotes transformation by facilitating silencing of tumour suppressors and other genes.

How has the study of the human placenta aided our understanding of partially methylated genes?

While the human genome sequence is relatively uniform between the cells of an individual, the DNA methylation of the genome (methylome) has unique features in different cells, tissues and stages of development. Recent genome-wide sequencing of the methylome has revealed large partially methylated domains (PMDs) in the human placenta. Unlike CpG islands and Polycomb-regulated regions, which can also have low levels of methylation, placental PMDs cover approximately 37% of the human genome and are associated with inaccessible chromatin and the repression of tissue-specific genes. Here, we summarize the interesting biological questions that have arisen as a result of finding PMDs in the human placenta, including how PMDs form, what they do, how they evolved and how they might be relevant to human disease.

Erk1/2 activity promotes chromatin features and RNAPII phosphorylation at developmental promoters in mouse ESCs

Erk1/2 activation contributes to mouse ES cell pluripotency. We found a direct role of Erk1/2 in modulating chromatin features required for regulated developmental gene expression. Erk2 binds to specific DNA sequence motifs typically accessed by Jarid2 and PRC2. Negating Erk1/2 activation leads to increased nucleosome occupancy and decreased occupancy of PRC2 and poised RNAPII at Erk2-PRC2-targeted developmental genes. Surprisingly, Erk2-PRC2-targeted genes are specifically devoid of TFIIH, known to phosphorylate RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) at serine-5, giving rise to its initiated form. Erk2 interacts with and phosphorylates RNAPII at its serine 5 residue, which is consistent with the presence of poised RNAPII as a function of Erk1/2 activation. These findings underscore a key role for Erk1/2 activation in promoting the primed status of developmental genes in mouse ES cells and suggest that the transcription complex at developmental genes is different than the complexes formed at other genes, offering alternative pathways of regulation.

Analysis of chromatin-state plasticity identifies cell-type-specific regulators of H3K27me3 patterns

Chromatin states are highly cell-type-specific, but the underlying mechanisms for the establishment and maintenance of their genome-wide patterns remain poorly understood. Here we present a computational approach for investigation of chromatin-state plasticity. We applied this approach to investigate an ENCODE ChIP-seq dataset profiling the genome-wide distributions of the H3K27me3 mark in 19 human cell lines. We found that the high plasticity regions (HPRs) can be divided into two functionally and mechanistically distinct subsets, which correspond to CpG island (CGI) proximal or distal regions, respectively. Although the CGI proximal HPRs are typically associated with continuous variation across different cell-types, the distal HPRs are associated with binary-like variations. We developed a computational approach to predict putative cell-type-specific modulators of H3K27me3 patterns and validated the predictions by comparing with public ChIP-seq data. Furthermore, we applied this approach to investigate mechanisms for poised enhancer establishment in primary human erythroid precursors. Importantly, we predicted and experimentally validated that the principal hematopoietic regulator T-cell acute lymphocytic leukemia-1 (TAL1) is involved in regulating H3K27me3 variations in collaboration with the transcription factor growth factor independent 1B (GFI1B), providing fresh insights into the context-specific role of TAL1 in erythropoiesis. Our approach is generally applicable to investigate the regulatory mechanisms of epigenetic pathways in establishing cellular identity.

Discovery of MLL1 binding units, their localization to CpG Islands, and their potential function in mitotic chromatin

Background

Mixed Lineage Leukemia 1 (MLL1) is a mammalian ortholog of the Drosophila Trithorax. In Drosophila, Trithorax complexes transmit the memory of active genes to daughter cells through interactions with Trithorax Response Elements (TREs). However, despite their functional importance, nothing is known about sequence features that may act as TREs in mammalian genomic DNA.

Results

By analyzing results of reported DNA binding assays, we identified several CpG rich motifs as potential MLL1 binding units (defined as morphemes). We find that these morphemes are dispersed within a relatively large collection of human promoter sequences and appear densely packed near transcription start sites of protein-coding genes. Genome wide analyses localized frequent morpheme occurrences to CpG islands. In the human HOX loci, the morphemes are spread across CpG islands and in some cases tail into the surrounding shores and shelves of the islands. By analyzing results of chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we found a connection between morpheme occurrences, CpG islands, and chromatin segments reported to be associated with MLL1. Furthermore, we found a correspondence of reported MLL1-driven “bookmarked” regions in chromatin to frequent occurrences of MLL1 morphemes in CpG islands.

Conclusion

Our results implicate the MLL1 morphemes in sequence-features that define the mammalian TREs and provide a novel function for CpG islands. Apparently, our findings offer the first evidence for existence of potential TREs in mammalian genomic DNA and the first evidence for a connection between CpG islands and gene-bookmarking by MLL1 to transmit the memory of highly active genes during mitosis. Our results further suggest a role for overlapping morphemes in producing closely packed and multiple MLL1 binding events in genomic DNA so that MLL1 molecules could interact and reside simultaneously on extended potential transcriptional maintenance elements in human chromosomes to transmit the memory of highly active genes during mitosis.

Chromatin and DNA sequences in defining promoters for transcription initiation

One of the key events in eukaryotic gene regulation and consequent transcription is the assembly of general transcription factors and RNA polymerase II into a functional pre-initiation complex at core promoters. An emerging view of complexity arising from a variety of promoter associated DNA motifs, their binding factors and recent discoveries in characterising promoter associated chromatin properties brings an old question back into the limelight: how is a promoter defined? In addition to position-dependent DNA sequence motifs, accumulating evidence suggests that several parallel acting mechanisms are involved in orchestrating a pattern marked by the state of chromatin and general transcription factor binding in preparation for defining transcription start sites. In this review we attempt to summarise these promoter features and discuss the available evidence pointing at their interactions in defining transcription initiation in developmental contexts. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Chromatin and epigenetic regulation of animal development.

Modeling the dynamics of bivalent histone modifications

Epigenetic modifications to histones may promote either activation or repression of the transcription of nearby genes. Recent experimental studies show that the promoters of many lineage-control genes in stem cells have “bivalent domains” in which the nucleosomes contain both active (H3K4me3) and repressive (H3K27me3) marks. It is generally agreed that bivalent domains play an important role in stem cell differentiation, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we formulate a mathematical model to investigate the dynamic properties of histone modification patterns. We then illustrate that our modeling framework can be used to capture key features of experimentally observed combinatorial chromatin states.

Message control in developmental transitions; deciphering chromatin's role using zebrafish genomics

Now that the sequencing of genomes has become routine, understanding how a given genome is used in different ways to obtain cell type diversity in an organism is the next frontier. How specific transcription programs are established during vertebrate embryogenesis, however, remains poorly understood. Transcription is influenced by chromatin structure, which determines the accessibility of DNA-binding proteins to the genome. Although large-scale genomics approaches have uncovered specific features of chromatin structure that are diagnostic for different cell types and developmental stages, our functional understanding of chromatin in transcriptional regulation during development is very limited. In recent years, zebrafish embryogenesis has emerged as an excellent vertebrate model system to investigate the functional relationship between chromatin organization, gene regulation and development in a dynamic environment. Here, we review how studies in zebrafish have started to improve our understanding of the role of chromatin structure in genome activation and pluripotency and in the potential inheritance of transcriptional states from parent to progeny.

A double take on bivalent promoters

Histone modifications and chromatin-associated protein complexes are crucially involved in the control of gene expression, supervising cell fate decisions and differentiation. Many promoters in embryonic stem (ES) cells harbor a distinctive histone modification signature that combines the activating histone H3 Lys 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) mark and the repressive H3K27me3 mark. These bivalent domains are considered to poise expression of developmental genes, allowing timely activation while maintaining repression in the absence of differentiation signals. Recent advances shed light on the establishment and function of bivalent domains; however, their role in development remains controversial, not least because suitable genetic models to probe their function in developing organisms are missing. Here, we explore avenues to and from bivalency and propose that bivalent domains and associated chromatin-modifying complexes safeguard proper and robust differentiation.

The human placenta methylome

Tissue-specific DNA methylation is found at promoters, enhancers, and CpG islands but also over larger genomic regions. In most human tissues, the vast majority of the genome is highly methylated (>70%). Recently, sequencing of bisulfite-treated DNA (MethylC-seq) has revealed large partially methylated domains (PMDs) in some human cell lines. PMDs cover up to 40% of the genome and are associated with gene repression and inactive chromatin marks. However, to date, only cultured cells and cancers have shown evidence for PMDs. Here, we performed MethylC-seq in full-term human placenta and demonstrate it is the first known normal tissue showing clear evidence of PMDs. We found that PMDs cover 37% of the placental genome, are stable throughout gestation and between individuals, and can be observed with lower sensitivity in Illumina 450K Infinium data. RNA-seq analysis confirmed that genes in PMDs are repressed in placenta. Using a hidden Markov model to map placental PMDs genome-wide and compare them to PMDs in other cell lines, we found that genes within placental PMDs have tissue-specific functions. For regulatory regions, methylation levels in promoter CpG islands are actually higher for genes within placental PMDs, despite the lower overall methylation of surrounding regions. Similar to PMDs, polycomb-regulated regions are hypomethylated but smaller and distinct from PMDs, with some being hypermethylated in placenta compared with other tissues. These results suggest that PMDs are a developmentally dynamic feature of the methylome that are relevant for understanding both normal development and cancer and may be of use as epigenetic biomarkers.

Developmentally programmed 3' CpG island methylation confers tissue- and cell-type-specific transcriptional activation

During development, a small but significant number of CpG islands (CGIs) become methylated. The timing of developmentally programmed CGI methylation and associated mechanisms of transcriptional regulation during cellular differentiation, however, remain poorly characterized. Here, we used genome-wide DNA methylation microarrays to identify epigenetic changes during human embryonic stem cell (hESC) differentiation. We discovered a group of CGIs associated with developmental genes that gain methylation after hESCs differentiate. Conversely, erasure of methylation was observed at the identified CGIs during subsequent reprogramming to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), further supporting a functional role for the CGI methylation. Both global gene expression profiling and quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) validation indicated opposing effects of CGI methylation in transcriptional regulation during differentiation, with promoter CGI methylation repressing and 3' CGI methylation activating transcription. By studying diverse human tissues and mouse models, we further confirmed that developmentally programmed 3' CGI methylation confers tissue- and cell-type-specific gene activation in vivo. Importantly, luciferase reporter assays provided evidence that 3' CGI methylation regulates transcriptional activation via a CTCF-dependent enhancer-blocking mechanism. These findings expand the classic view of mammalian CGI methylation as a mechanism for transcriptional silencing and indicate a functional role for 3' CGI methylation in developmental gene regulation.

Epigenetic conservation at gene regulatory elements revealed by non-methylated DNA profiling in seven vertebrates

Two-thirds of gene promoters in mammals are associated with regions of non-methylated DNA, called CpG islands (CGIs), which counteract the repressive effects of DNA methylation on chromatin. In cold-blooded vertebrates, computational CGI predictions often reside away from gene promoters, suggesting a major divergence in gene promoter architecture across vertebrates. By experimentally identifying non-methylated DNA in the genomes of seven diverse vertebrates, we instead reveal that non-methylated islands (NMIs) of DNA are a central feature of vertebrate gene promoters. Furthermore, NMIs are present at orthologous genes across vast evolutionary distances, revealing a surprising level of conservation in this epigenetic feature. By profiling NMIs in different tissues and developmental stages we uncover a unifying set of features that are central to the function of NMIs in vertebrates. Together these findings demonstrate an ancient logic for NMI usage at gene promoters and reveal an unprecedented level of epigenetic conservation across vertebrate evolution. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.00348.001.