ATRX Partners with Cohesin and MeCP2 and Contributes to Developmental Silencing of Imprinted Genes in the Brain

Authors

Kristin D. Kernohan, University of Western Ontario
Yan Jiang, University of Western Ontario
Deanna C. Tremblay, University of Western Ontario
Anne C. Bonvissuto, University of Western Ontario
James H. Eubanks, Toronto Western Research Institute
Mellissa R. W. Mann, University of Western Ontario
Nathalie G. Bérubé, University of Western Ontario

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-16-2010

Journal

Developmental Cell

Volume

18

Issue

2

First Page

191

Last Page

202

URL with Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2009.12.017

Abstract

Human developmental disorders caused by chromatin dysfunction often display overlapping clinical manifestations, such as cognitive deficits, but the underlying molecular links are poorly defined. Here, we show that ATRX, MeCP2, and cohesin, chromatin regulators implicated in ATR-X, RTT, and CdLS syndromes, respectively, interact in the brain and colocalize at the H19 imprinting control region (ICR) with preferential binding on the maternal allele. Importantly, we show that ATRX loss of function alters enrichment of cohesin, CTCF, and histone modifications at the H19 ICR, without affecting DNA methylation on the paternal allele. ATRX also affects cohesin, CTCF, and MeCP2 occupancy within the Gtl2/Dlk1 imprinted domain. Finally, we show that loss of ATRX interferes with the postnatal silencing of the maternal H19 gene along with a larger network of imprinted genes. We propose that ATRX, cohesin, and MeCP2 cooperate to silence a subset of imprinted genes in the postnatal mouse brain.