Cytosine-5 methyltransferases of the Dnmt2 family function as DNA and tRNA methyltransferases. Insight into the role and biological significance of Dnmt2 is greatly hampered by a lack of knowledge about its protein interactions. In this report, we address the subject of protein interaction by identifying enolase through a yeast two-hybrid screen as a Dnmt2-binding protein. Enolase, which is known to catalyze the conversion of 2-phosphoglycerate (2-PG) to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), was shown to have both a cytoplasmatic and a nuclear localization in the parasite Entamoeba histolytica. We discovered that enolase acts as a Dnmt2 inhibitor. This unexpected inhibitory activity was antagonized by 2-PG, which suggests that glucose metabolism controls the non-glycolytic function of enolase. Interestingly, glucose starvation drives enolase to accumulate within the nucleus, which in turn leads to the formation of additional enolase-E.histolytica DNMT2 homolog (Ehmeth) complex, and to a significant reduction of the tRNAAsp methylation in the parasite. The crucial role of enolase as a Dnmt2 inhibitor was also demonstrated in E.histolytica expressing a nuclear localization signal (NLS)-fused-enolase. These results establish enolase as the first Dnmt2 interacting protein, and highlight an unexpected role of a glycolytic enzyme in the modulation of Dnmt2 activity.

SummaryAdaptation to environmental stress is a key process that allows the unicellular parasite Entamoeba histolytica to survive in its human host. We previously characterized EhMLBP as an essential protein for the growth and the virulence of the parasite. EhMLBP binds to methylated repetitive DNA, and is one of the core proteins of the parasite's epigenetic machinery. Here, we show that EhMLBP and heat shock proteins have common properties. EhMLBP is induced by heat shock and its expression is regulated by a heat shock element binding site that is located in its 5Ј noncoding region. Following heat shock, the perinuclear localization of EhMLBP in control trophozoites is replaced by an even distribution within the nucleus alongside with an enhanced recruitment of EhMLBP to the reverse transcriptase of a long interspersed nucleotide element (LINE) DNA. Constitutive overexpression of EhMLBP protects trophozoites against heat shock and reduces protein aggregation. This protective function is lost in trophozoites that overexpress a mutated form of EhMLBP which is devoid of its heat shock domain. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a methyl DNAbinding protein that plays a protective role against heat shock.