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Three classes of epigenomic regulators converge to hyperactivate the essential maternal gene deadhead within a heterochromatin mini-domain.
PLoS Genet, 18(1):e1009615.
The formation of a diploid zygote is a highly complex cellular process that isentirely controlled by maternal gene products stored in the egg cytoplasm. Thishighly specialized transcriptional program is tightly controlled at the chromatinlevel in the female germline. As an extreme case in point, the massive and specificovarian expression of the essential thioredoxin Deadhead (DHD) is criticallyregulated in Drosophila by the histone demethylase Lid and its partner, the histonedeacetylase complex Sin3A/Rpd3, via yet unknown mechanisms. Here, we identified Snr1and Mod(mdg4) as essential for dhd expression and investigated how these epigenomiceffectors act with Lid and Sin3A to hyperactivate dhd. Using Cut&Run chromatinprofiling with a dedicated data analysis procedure, we found that dhd isintriguingly embedded in an H3K27me3/H3K9me3-enriched mini-domain flanked by DNAregulatory elements, including a dhd promoter-proximal element essential for itsexpression. Surprisingly, Lid, Sin3a, Snr1 and Mod(mdg4) impact H3K27me3 and thisregulatory element in distinct manners. However, we show that these effectorsactivate dhd independently of H3K27me3/H3K9me3, and that dhd remains silent in theabsence of these marks. Together, our study demonstrates an atypical and criticalrole for chromatin regulators Lid, Sin3A, Snr1 and Mod(mdg4) to triggertissue-specific hyperactivation within a unique heterochromatin mini-domain.
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