VA Boston Healthcare System, MA, USA.
Cell Death Differ. 2012 Jul;19(7):1109-16. doi: 10.1038/cdd.2011.196. Epub 2012 Jan 13.
Aberrant chromatin remodeling is involved in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease (HD) but the mechanism is not known. Herein, we report that mutant huntingtin (mtHtt) induces the transcription of alpha thalassemia/mental retardation X linked (ATRX), an ATPase/helicase and SWI/SNF-like chromatin remodeling protein via Cdx-2 activation. ATRX expression was elevated in both a cell line model and transgenic model of HD, and Cdx-2 occupancy of the ATRX promoter was increased in HD. Induction of ATRX expanded the size of promyelocytic leukemia nuclear body (PML-NB) and increased trimethylation of H3K9 (H3K9me3) and condensation of pericentromeric heterochromatin, while knockdown of ATRX decreased PML-NB and H3K9me3 levels. Knockdown of ATRX/dXNP improved the hatch rate of fly embryos expressing mtHtt (Q127). ATRX/dXNP overexpression exacerbated eye degeneration of eye-specific mtHtt (Q127) expressing flies. Our findings suggest that transcriptional alteration of ATRX by mtHtt is involved in pericentromeric heterochromatin condensation and contributes to the pathogenesis of HD.
染色质重塑异常参与亨廷顿病(HD)的发病机制,但具体机制尚不清楚。本研究报告称,突变型亨廷顿蛋白(mtHtt)通过 Cdx-2 激活诱导α地中海贫血/智力低下 X 连锁(ATRX)的转录,ATRX 是一种 ATP 酶/解旋酶和 SWI/SNF 样染色质重塑蛋白。HD 的细胞系模型和转基因模型中 ATRX 的表达均升高,HD 中 ATRX 启动子的 Cdx-2 占有率增加。ATRX 的诱导扩大了早幼粒细胞白血病核体(PML-NB)的大小,并增加了 H3K9 的三甲基化(H3K9me3)和着丝粒周围异染色质的浓缩,而 ATRX 的敲低则降低了 PML-NB 和 H3K9me3 水平。ATRX/dXNP 的敲低可提高表达 mtHtt(Q127)的果蝇胚胎的孵化率。ATRX/dXNP 的过表达加剧了特异性表达 mtHtt(Q127)的果蝇的眼部退化。我们的研究结果表明,mtHtt 对 ATRX 的转录改变参与了着丝粒周围异染色质的浓缩,并导致 HD 的发病机制。