A hit-and-run heat shock factor governs sustained histone methylation and transcriptional stress memory
- In nature, plants often encounter chronic or recurring stressful conditions. Recent results indicate that plants can remember a past exposure to stress to be better prepared for a future stress incident. However, the molecular basis of this is poorly understood. Here, we report the involvement of chromatin modifications in the maintenance of acquired thermotolerance (heat stress [HS] memory). HS memory is associated with the accumulation of histone H3 lysine 4 di- and trimethylation at memory-related loci. This accumulation outlasts their transcriptional activity and marks them as recently transcriptionally active. High accumulation of H3K4 methylation is associated with hyper-induction of gene expression upon a recurring HS. This transcriptional memory and the sustained accumulation of H3K4 methylation depend on HSFA2, a transcription factor that is required for HS memory, but not initial heat responses. Interestingly, HSFA2 associates with memory-related loci transiently during the early stages following HS. In summary, we show thatIn nature, plants often encounter chronic or recurring stressful conditions. Recent results indicate that plants can remember a past exposure to stress to be better prepared for a future stress incident. However, the molecular basis of this is poorly understood. Here, we report the involvement of chromatin modifications in the maintenance of acquired thermotolerance (heat stress [HS] memory). HS memory is associated with the accumulation of histone H3 lysine 4 di- and trimethylation at memory-related loci. This accumulation outlasts their transcriptional activity and marks them as recently transcriptionally active. High accumulation of H3K4 methylation is associated with hyper-induction of gene expression upon a recurring HS. This transcriptional memory and the sustained accumulation of H3K4 methylation depend on HSFA2, a transcription factor that is required for HS memory, but not initial heat responses. Interestingly, HSFA2 associates with memory-related loci transiently during the early stages following HS. In summary, we show that transcriptional memory after HS is associated with sustained H3K4 hyper-methylation and depends on a hit-and-run transcription factor, thus providing a molecular framework for HS memory.…
Author details: | Jörn LämkeORCiDGND, Krzysztof BrzezinkaGND, Simone Altmann, Isabel BäurleORCiDGND |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.15252/embj.201592593 |
ISSN: | 0261-4189 |
ISSN: | 1460-2075 |
Pubmed ID: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26657708 |
Title of parent work (English): | The EMBO journal |
Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell |
Place of publishing: | Hoboken |
Publication type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of first publication: | 2016 |
Publication year: | 2016 |
Release date: | 2020/03/22 |
Tag: | H3K4 methylation; chromatin; heat shock transcription factor; priming; transcriptional memory |
Volume: | 35 |
Number of pages: | 14 |
First page: | 162 |
Last Page: | 175 |
Funding institution: | Sofja-Kovalevskaja-Award (Alexander-von-Humboldt-Foundation); CRC 973 Project (DFG) [A2]; Max-Planck-Society IMPRS Fellowship |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät / Institut für Biochemie und Biologie |
Peer review: | Referiert |