Tissue-specific H2Bub1 is required for cardiomyocyte development

Abstract

De-novo mutations affecting Histone2B-K120 monoubiquitination (H2Bub1) are enriched in congenital heart disease; however, how H2Bub1 affects heart development beyond its function in establishing left-right asymmetry remains unknown. Here we show that the RNF20-core complex (RNF20-RNF40-UBE2B), which catalyzes H2Bub1, is required for cardiac development in-vivo in mice and in-vitro in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Mice with cardiac-specific deletion of Rnf20 have abnormal myocardium and ventricular septal defects; iPSCs with mutations affecting H2Bub1 cannot efficiently differentiate into cardiomyocytes. Sarcomeric gene expression is dependent on normal H2Bub1 both in mice and in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. Finally, we identify an accumulation of H2Bub1 near the center of tissue-specific genes in cardiomyocytes and MEFs associated with transcriptional efficiency that is reduced in UBE2B-/- cardiomyocytes. In summary, normal H2Bub1 distribution is required in cardiac development, and H2Bub1 accumulation acts as a general mechanism for tissue-specific regulation of transcriptional elongation efficiency.