Mask exhibits trxG-like behavior and associates with H3K27ac marked chromatin

Dev Biol. 2023 Nov 18;505:130-140. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2023.11.005. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe Trithorax group (trxG) proteins counteract the repressive effect of Polycomb group (PcG) complexes and maintain transcriptional memory of active states of key developmental genes. Although chromatin structure and modifications appear to play a fundamental role in this process, it is not clear how trxG prevents PcG-silencing and heritably maintains an active gene expression state. Here, we report a hitherto unknown role of Drosophila Multiple ankyrin repeats single KH domain (Mask), which emerged as one of the candidate trxG genes in our reverse genetic screen. The genome-wide binding profile of Mask correlates with known trxG binding sites across the Drosophila genome. In particular, the association of Mask at chromatin overlaps with CBP and H3K27ac, which are known hallmarks of actively transcribed genes by trxG. Importantly, Mask predominantly associates with actively transcribed genes in Drosophila. Depletion of Mask not only results in the downregulation of trxG targets but also correlates with diminished levels of H3K27ac. The fact that Mask positively regulates H3K27ac levels in flies was also found to be conserved in human cells. Strong suppression of Pc mutant phenotype by mutation in mask provides physiological relevance that Mask contributes to the anti-silencing effect of trxG, maintaining expression of key developmental genes. Since Mask is a downstream effector ...

Source: Developmental Biology - November 19, 2023 Category: Biology Authors: Ammad Shaukat Mahnoor Hussain Bakhtiari Daim Shiraz Chaudhry Muhammad Haider Farooq Khan Jawad Akhtar Ahmed Hassan Abro Muhammad Abdul Haseeb Aaminah Sarwar Khalida Mazhar Zain Umer Muhammad Tariq Source Type: research