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Willcockson MA, Healton SE, Weiss CN, Bartholdy BA, Botbol Y, Mishra LN, Sidhwani DS, Wilson TJ, Pinto HB, Maron MI, Skalina KA, Toro LN, Zhao J, Lee CH, Hou H, Yusufova N, Meydan C, Osunsade A, David Y, Cesarman E, Melnick AM, Sidoli S, Garcia BA, Edelmann W, Macian F, Skoultchi AI. H1 histones control the epigenetic landscape by local chromatin compaction. Nature 2021; 589:293-298. [PMID: 33299182 PMCID: PMC8110206 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-3032-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
H1 linker histones are the most abundant chromatin-binding proteins1. In vitro studies indicate that their association with chromatin determines nucleosome spacing and enables arrays of nucleosomes to fold into more compact chromatin structures. However, the in vivo roles of H1 are poorly understood2. Here we show that the local density of H1 controls the balance of repressive and active chromatin domains by promoting genomic compaction. We generated a conditional triple-H1-knockout mouse strain and depleted H1 in haematopoietic cells. H1 depletion in T cells leads to de-repression of T cell activation genes, a process that mimics normal T cell activation. Comparison of chromatin structure in normal and H1-depleted CD8+ T cells reveals that H1-mediated chromatin compaction occurs primarily in regions of the genome containing higher than average levels of H1: the chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) B compartment and regions of the Hi-C A compartment marked by PRC2. Reduction of H1 stoichiometry leads to decreased H3K27 methylation, increased H3K36 methylation, B-to-A-compartment shifting and an increase in interaction frequency between compartments. In vitro, H1 promotes PRC2-mediated H3K27 methylation and inhibits NSD2-mediated H3K36 methylation. Mechanistically, H1 mediates these opposite effects by promoting physical compaction of the chromatin substrate. Our results establish H1 as a critical regulator of gene silencing through localized control of chromatin compaction, 3D genome organization and the epigenetic landscape.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sean E Healton
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Cary N Weiss
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Boris A Bartholdy
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yair Botbol
- Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Laxmi N Mishra
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Dhruv S Sidhwani
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Tommy J Wilson
- Department of Neurology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University Medical Center, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA
| | - Hugo B Pinto
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Maxim I Maron
- Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Karin A Skalina
- Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Laura Norwood Toro
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
| | - Jie Zhao
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Chul-Hwan Lee
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Chevy Chase, MD, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Harry Hou
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Nevin Yusufova
- Cell & Molecular Biology Graduate Program, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Cem Meydan
- Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Adewola Osunsade
- Chemical Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
- Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yael David
- Chemical Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
- Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ethel Cesarman
- Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ari M Melnick
- Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Medicine, Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Simone Sidoli
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Smilow Center for Translational Research, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Benjamin A Garcia
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Smilow Center for Translational Research, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Winfried Edelmann
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Fernando Macian
- Department of Pathology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - Arthur I Skoultchi
- Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
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