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p38 MAPK signaling regulates recruitment of Ash2L-containing methyltransferase complexes to specific genes during differentiation.

Author	Shravanti Rampalli, LiFang Li, Esther Mak, Kai Ge, Marjorie Brand, Stephen J Tapscott, F Jeffrey Dilworth
Citation Information	Nature structural molecular biology, 14:1150-6 (2007)
Keywords	Animals, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Chromatin Immunoprecipitation, Chromosomal Proteins, Non-Histone, Methyltransferases, Mice, Muscles, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Repressor Proteins, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Signal Transduction, p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
Related Products	07-030
Pub Med ID	18026121

Cell-specific patterns of gene expression are established through the antagonistic functions of trithorax group (TrxG) and Polycomb group (PcG) proteins. Several muscle-specific genes have previously been shown to be epigenetically marked for repression by PcG proteins in muscle progenitor cells. Here we demonstrate that these developmentally regulated genes become epigenetically marked for gene expression (trimethylated on histone H3 Lys4, H3K4me3) during muscle differentiation through specific recruitment of Ash2L-containing methyltransferase complexes. Targeting of Ash2L to specific genes is mediated by the transcriptional regulator Mef2d. Furthermore, this interaction is modulated during differentiation through activation of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway via phosphorylation of Mef2d. Thus, we provide evidence that signaling pathways regulate the targeting of TrxG-mediated epigenetic modifications at specific promoters during cellular differentiation.