Mews Philipp, Donahue Greg, Drake Adam M, Luczak Vincent, Abel Ted, Berger Shelley L
Epigenetics Institute, Departments of Cell and Developmental Biology, Biology, Genetics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Nature. 2017 Jun 15;546(7658):381-386. doi: 10.1038/nature22405. Epub 2017 May 31.
Metabolic production of acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) is linked to histone acetylation and gene regulation, but the precise mechanisms of this process are largely unknown. Here we show that the metabolic enzyme acetyl-CoA synthetase 2 (ACSS2) directly regulates histone acetylation in neurons and spatial memory in mammals. In a neuronal cell culture model, ACSS2 increases in the nuclei of differentiating neurons and localizes to upregulated neuronal genes near sites of elevated histone acetylation. A decrease in ACSS2 lowers nuclear acetyl-CoA levels, histone acetylation, and responsive expression of the cohort of neuronal genes. In adult mice, attenuation of hippocampal ACSS2 expression impairs long-term spatial memory, a cognitive process that relies on histone acetylation. A decrease in ACSS2 in the hippocampus also leads to defective upregulation of memory-related neuronal genes that are pre-bound by ACSS2. These results reveal a connection between cellular metabolism, gene regulation, and neural plasticity and establish a link between acetyl-CoA generation 'on-site' at chromatin for histone acetylation and the transcription of key neuronal genes.
乙酰辅酶A(acetyl-CoA)的代谢生成与组蛋白乙酰化及基因调控相关,但这一过程的确切机制在很大程度上尚不清楚。在此,我们表明代谢酶乙酰辅酶A合成酶2(ACSS2)直接调控哺乳动物神经元中的组蛋白乙酰化及空间记忆。在神经元细胞培养模型中,ACSS2在分化神经元的细胞核中增加,并定位于组蛋白乙酰化升高位点附近上调的神经元基因处。ACSS2的减少会降低细胞核中乙酰辅酶A水平、组蛋白乙酰化以及神经元基因群组的反应性表达。在成年小鼠中,海马体ACSS2表达的减弱会损害长期空间记忆,这是一种依赖于组蛋白乙酰化的认知过程。海马体中ACSS2的减少还会导致由ACSS2预先结合的记忆相关神经元基因的上调缺陷。这些结果揭示了细胞代谢、基因调控和神经可塑性之间的联系,并在染色质上用于组蛋白乙酰化的“现场”乙酰辅酶A生成与关键神经元基因的转录之间建立了联系。