MLL-containing complexes methylate histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4) and have been implicated in the regulation of transcription. However, it is unclear how MLL complexes are targeted to specific gene loci. Here, we show that the MLL2 complex associates with the hematopoietic activator NF-E2 in erythroid cells and is important for H3K4 trimethylation and maximal levels of transcription at the beta-globin locus. Furthermore, recruitment of the MLL2 complex to the beta-globin locus is dependent upon NF-E2 and coincides spatio-temporally with NF-E2 binding during erythroid differentiation. Thus, a DNA-bound activator is important initially for guiding MLL2 to a particular genomic location. Interestingly, while the MLL2-associated subunit ASH2L is restricted to the beta-globin locus control region 38 kb upstream of the beta(maj)-globin gene, the MLL2 protein spreads across the beta-globin locus, suggesting a previously undefined mechanism by which an activator influences transcription and H3K4 trimethylation at a distance.

The neocortex is comprised of six neuronal layers that are generated in a defined temporal sequence. While extrinsic and intrinsic cues are known to regulate the sequential production of neocortical neurons, how these factors interact and function in a coordinated manner is poorly understood. The proneural gene Neurog2 is expressed in progenitors throughout corticogenesis, but is only required to specify early-born, deep-layer neuronal identities. Here, we examined how neuronal differentiation in general and Neurog2 function in particular are temporally controlled during murine neocortical development. We found that Neurog2 proneural activity declines in late corticogenesis, correlating with its phosphorylation by GSK3 kinase. Accordingly, GSK3 activity, which is negatively regulated by canonical Wnt signaling, increases over developmental time, while Wnt signaling correspondingly decreases. When ectopically activated, GSK3 inhibits Neurog2-mediated transcription in cultured cells and Neurog2 proneural activities in vivo. Conversely, a reduction in GSK3 activity promotes the precocious differentiation of later stage cortical progenitors without influencing laminar fate specification. Mechanistically, we show that GSK3 suppresses Neurog2 activity by influencing its choice of dimerization partner, promoting heterodimeric interactions with E47 (Tcfe2a), as opposed to Neurog2-Neurog2 homodimer formation, which occurs when GSK3 activity levels are low. At the functional level, Neurog2-E47 heterodimers have a reduced ability to transactivate neuronal differentiation genes compared with Neurog2-Neurog2 homodimers, both in vitro and in vivo. We thus conclude that the temporal regulation of Neurog2-E47 heterodimerization by GSK3 is a central component of the neuronal differentiation "clock" that coordinates the timing and tempo of neocortical neurogenesis in mouse.

SUMMARY DPY-30 is a subunit of mammalian COMPASS-like complexes (complex of proteins associated with Set1) and regulates global histone H3 Lys-4 trimethylation. Here we report structural evidence showing that the incorporation of DPY-30 into COMPASS-like complexes is mediated by several hydrophobic interactions between an amphipathic α helix located on the C terminus of COMPASS subunit ASH2L and the inner surface of the DPY-30 dimerization/docking (D/D) module. Mutations impairing the interaction between ASH2L and DPY-30 result in a loss of his-tone H3K4me3 at the β locus control region and cause a delay in erythroid cell terminal differentiation. Using overlay assays, we defined a consensus sequence for DPY-30 binding proteins and found that DPY-30 interacts with BAP18, a subunit of the nucleosome remodeling factor complex. Overall, our results indicate that the ASH2L/DPY-30 complex is important for cell differentiation and provide insights into the ability of DPY-30 to associate with functionally divergent multisubunit complexes.

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Human ASH2L is a trithorax group (TrxG) protein and a regulatory subunit of the SET1 family of lysine methyltransferases. Here we report that Ash2L binds DNA employing a Forkhead-like helix-wing-helix (HWH) domain. In vivo, Ash2L HWH domain is required for binding to the β-globin locus control region (LCR), histone H3 Lys4 tri-methylation and maximal expression of the β-globin gene, validating the functional importance of Ash2L DNA binding activity.

The methyltransferase activity of the trithorax group (TrxG) protein MLL1 found within its COMPASS (complex associated with SET1)-like complex is allosterically regulated by a four-subunit complex composed of WDR5, RbBP5, Ash2L, and DPY30 (also referred to as WRAD). We report structural evidence showing that in WRAD, a concave surface of the Ash2L SPIa and ryanodine receptor (SPRY) domain binds to a cluster of acidic residues, referred to as the D/E box, in RbBP5. Mutational analysis shows that residues forming the Ash2L/RbBP5 interface are important for heterodimer formation, stimulation of MLL1 catalytic activity, and erythroid cell terminal differentiation. We also demonstrate that a phosphorylation switch on RbBP5 stimulates WRAD complex formation and significantly increases KMT2 (lysine [K] methyltransferase 2) enzyme methylation rates. Overall, our findings provide structural insights into the assembly of the WRAD complex and point to a novel regulatory mechanism controlling the activity of the KMT2/COMPASS family of lysine methyltransferases.Supplemental material is available for this article.Received October 27, 2014; revised version accepted December 15, 2014. The methyltransferase activity of the trithorax group (TrxG) protein MLL1 as well as the other members of the KMT2 (lysine [K] methyltransferase 2) family found within COMPASS (complex associated with SET1) catalyzes the site-specific methylation of the e-amine of Lys4 (K4) of histone H3 (Shilatifard 2012). While these enzymes share the ability to methylate the same residue on histone H3, the catalytic activity of these enzymes is linked to different biological processes. MLL1/MLL2 di/trimethylate H3K4 (H3K4me2/3) and regulate Hox gene expression during embryonic development (Yu et al. 1995;Dou et al. 2006). MLL3/MLL4 regulate adipogenesis ) and primarily monomethylate H3K4 (H3K4me1) at both enhancer (Herz et al. 2012;Hu et al. 2013) and promoter (Cheng et al. 2014) regions, while SET1A/B are the primary H3K4 trimethyltransferases (Wu et al. 2008). However, despite divergence in catalytic activity and functional roles, enzymes of the KMT2/COMPASS family must assemble into multisubunit complexes to carry out their biological functions.Our molecular understanding of the protein complexes involved in H3K4 methylation stems from the isolation of COMPASS from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Miller et al. 2001;Roguev et al. 2001;Krogan et al. 2002;Dehe et al. 2006). These studies demonstrated that regulatory subunits found within COMPASS and mammalian COMPASS-like complexes play key roles in stabilizing the enzyme and stimulating its methyltransferase activity as well as targeting the protein complex to specific genomic loci (Couture and Skiniotis 2013). While each of these multisubunit protein complexes contains unique subunits, each member of the KMT2 family associates with a common set of four evolutionarily conserved regulatory proteins; namely, WDR5, RbBP5, Ash2L, and DPY30 (WRAD) (Couture and Skiniotis 2013). The foursubunit complex directly binds ...

A prototype 13-bp TATA-box sequence, TCACTATATATAG, was mutated at each nucleotide position and examined for its function in the core promoter. Specific nucleotides in the first TATA, the second TATA, as well as the flanking sequences influenced promoter function in transient transformation of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum var Petit Havana) leaves. The effect of a given mutation on reporter gene expression in light versus dark was variable and sometimes contrasting. Some mutations, like T 7 or A 8 /C or G, completely inactivated the expression of the minimal promoter in light but not in dark. In general, the sequence requirement for dark expression was less stringent than that for light expression. The selective effect of TATA-box mutations on light versus dark expression was exerted on core promoter function in the chromatin-integrated state also. Even in the presence of an upstream light response activator element, TATA-box mutations influenced modulation of the promoter by light. An A at the eighth position was specifically involved in the red light response of the promoter. Selectivity in gene expression was associated with a high level of transcript initiation from a site that was not active in the dark. Nuclear proteins from dark-and light-grown seedlings showed that the sequence variation within the TATA-box governs the formation of alternative transcriptional complexes. The experiments give direct evidence for the role of a core TATA-box sequence in determining the level as well as selectivity of gene expression in plants.

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