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Plate IV.504 · Publications

Atrx promotes heterochromatin formation at retrotransposons

Article in The EMBO Reports, 21 May 2015.

Open accessRepresentations, Single Cell

  1. Dennis Sadic
  2. Katharina Schmidt
  3. Sophia Groh
  4. Ivan Kondofersky
  5. Joachim Ellwart
  6. Christiane Fuchs
  7. Fabian J Theis
  8. Gunnar Schotta

Abstract

More than 50% of mammalian genomes consist of retrotransposon sequences. Silencing of retrotransposons by heterochromatin is essential to ensure genomic stability and transcriptional integrity. Here, we identified a short sequence element in intracisternal A particle (IAP) retrotransposons that is sufficient to trigger heterochromatin formation. We used this sequence in a genome-wide shRNA screen and identified the chromatin remodeler Atrx as a novel regulator of IAP silencing. Atrx binds to IAP elements and is necessary for efficient heterochromatin formation. In addition, Atrx facilitates a robust and largely inaccessible heterochromatin structure as Atrx knockout cells display increased chromatin accessibility at retrotransposons and non-repetitive heterochromatic loci. In summary, we demonstrate a direct role of Atrx in the establishment and robust maintenance of heterochromatin.

Cite

@article{sadic2015atrx,
  title = {{Atrx promotes heterochromatin formation at retrotransposons}},
  author = {Sadic, Dennis and Schmidt, Katharina and Groh, Sophia and Kondofersky, Ivan and Ellwart, Joachim and Fuchs, Christiane and Theis, Fabian J and Schotta, Gunnar},
  journal = {The EMBO Reports},
  publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
  year = {2015},
  month = may,
  doi = {10.15252/embr.201439937},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201439937},
  pmid = {26012739},
  pmcid = {PMC4515123}
}
.bib file