Loss of Fam60a, a Sin3a subunit, results in embryonic lethality and is associated with aberrant methylation at a subset of gene promoters.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30070635.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.36435 and PMC identifier 6072441.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
We have examined the role of <i>Fam60a</i>, a gene highly expressed in embryonic stem cells, in mouse development. Fam60a interacts with components of the Sin3a-Hdac transcriptional corepressor complex, and most <i>Fam60a</i><sup>-/-</sup> embryos manifest hypoplasia of visceral organs and die in utero. Fam60a is recruited to the promoter regions of a subset of genes, with the expression of these genes being either up- or down-regulated in <i>Fam60a</i><sup>-/-</sup> embryos. The DNA methylation level of the Fam60a target gene <i>Adhfe1</i> is maintained at embryonic day (E) 7.5 but markedly reduced at E9.5 in <i>Fam60a</i><sup>-/-</sup> embryos, suggesting that DNA demethylation is enhanced in the mutant. Examination of genome-wide DNA methylation identified several differentially methylated regions, which were preferentially hypomethylated, in <i>Fam60a</i><sup>-/-</sup> embryos. Our data suggest that Fam60a is required for proper embryogenesis, at least in part as a result of its regulation of DNA methylation at specific gene promoters.
Medical subject headings
- DNA Methylation
- DNA-Binding Proteins
- Embryonic Development