Expression of histone methyltransferase G9a and clinical significance in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

The covalent modification of histone tails has regulatory roles in various nuclear processes, such as control of transcription and mitotic chromosome condensation. Among the different groups of enzymes known to catalyze the covalent modification, the most recent additions are the histone methyltransferases (HMTases), whose functions are now being characterized. Here we show that a SET domain-containing protein, G9a, is a novel mammalian lysine-preferring HMTase. Like Suv39 h1, the first identified lysine-preferring mammalian HMTase, G9a transfers methyl groups to the lysine residues of histone H3, but with a 10-20-fold higher activity. It was reported that lysines 4, 9, and 27 in H3 are methylated in mammalian cells. G9a was able to add methyl groups to lysine 27 as well as 9 in H3, compared with Suv39 h1, which was only able to methylate lysine 9. Our data clearly demonstrated that G9a has an enzymatic nature distinct from Suv39 h1 and its homologue h2. Finally, fluorescent protein-labeled G9a was shown to be localized in the nucleus but not in the repressive chromatin domains of centromeric loci, in which Suv39 h1 family proteins were localized. This finding indicates that G9a may contribute to the organization of the higher order chromatin structure of non-centromeric loci.

Histone H3 lysine 9 (H3-K9) methylation has been shown to correlate with transcriptional repression and serve as a specific binding site for heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1). In this study, we investigated the relationship between H3-K9 methylation, transcriptional repression, and HP1 recruitment by comparing the effects of tethering two H3-K9-specific histone methyltransferases, SUV39H1 and G9a, to chromatin on transcription and HP1 recruitment. Although both SUV39H1 and G9a induced H3-K9 methylation and repressed transcription, only SUV39H1 was able to recruit HP1 to chromatin. Targeting HP1 to chromatin required not only K9 methylation but also a direct protein-protein interaction between SUV39H1 and HP1. Targeting methyl-K9 or a HP1-interacting region of SUV39H1 alone to chromatin was not sufficient to recruit HP1. We also demonstrate that methyl-K9 can suppress transcription independently of HP1 through a mechanism involving histone deacetylation. In an effort to understand how H3-K9 methylation led to histone deacetylation in both H3 and H4, we found that H3-K9 methylation inhibited histone acetylation by p300 but not its association with chromatin. Collectively, these data indicate that H3-K9 methylation alone can suppress transcription but is insufficient for HP1 recruitment in the context of chromatin exemplifying the importance of chromatin-associated factors in reading the histone code.

The epigenetic silencing of tumor suppressor genes is a common event during carcinogenesis, and often involves aberrant DNA methylation and histone modification of gene regulatory regions, resulting in the formation of a transcriptionally repressive chromatin state. Two examples include the antimetastatic, tumor suppressor genes, desmocollin 3 (DSC3) and MASPIN, which are frequently silenced in this manner in human breast cancer. Treatment of the breast tumor cell lines MDA-MB-231 and UACC 1179 with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-CdR) induced transcriptional reactivation of both genes in a dose-dependent manner. Importantly, DSC3 and MASPIN reactivation was closely and consistently linked with significant decreases in promoter H3 K9 di-methylation. Moreover, 5-aza-CdR treatment also resulted in global decreases in H3 K9 di-methylation, an effect that was linked to its ability to mediate dose-dependent, post-transcriptional decreases in the key enzyme responsible for this epigenetic modification, G9A. Finally, small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of G9A and DNMT1 led to increased MASPIN expression in MDA-MB-231 cells, to levels that were supra-additive, verifying the importance of these enzymes in maintaining multiple layers of epigenetic repression in breast tumor cells. These results highlight an additional, complimentary mechanism of action for 5-aza-CdR in the reactivation of epigenetically silenced genes, in a manner that is independent of its effects on DNA methylation, further supporting an important role for H3 K9 methylation in the aberrant repression of tumor suppressor genes in human cancer.