05-808 Sigma-AldrichAnti-dimethyl-Histone H3 (Arg2) Antibody, rabbit monoclonal

Protein arginine methyltransferase 6 (PRMT6) is a nuclear enzyme that modifies histone tails. To help elucidate the biological function of PRMT6 in vivo, we generated transgenic mice that ubiquitously express PRMT6 fused to the hormone-binding portion of the estrogen receptor (ER*). The ER*-PRMT6 fusion is unstable and cytoplasmic, but upon systemic treatment with tamoxifen, it becomes stabilized and translocates into the nucleus. As a result, a dramatic increase in the H3R2me2a histone mark is observed. We found that one consequence of induced ER*-PRMT6 activation is increased IL-6 levels. IL-6 expression is regulated by the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) transcription factor, and PRMT6 functions as a coactivator of this pathway. We show that PRMT6 directly interacts with RelA, and that its overexpression enhances the transcriptional activity of an ectopic NF-κB reporter and endogenously regulates NF-κB target genes. PRMT6 is recruited, by RelA, to selective NF-κB target promoters upon TNF-α stimulation. Moreover, ER*-PRMT6 activation causes RelA accumulation in the nucleus. In summary, we observe that PRMT6 is recruited to chromatin at selective NF-κB target promoters, where it likely impacts the histone code and/or methylates other chromatin-associated proteins to facilitate transcription.

Several research groups have suggested that the embryonic-abembryonic (Em-Ab) axis in the mouse can be predicted by the first cleavage plane of the early embryo. Currently, it is not known whether this early patterning occurs in cloned embryos produced by nuclear transfer and whether it affects development to term. In this work, the relationship between the first cleavage plane and the Em-Ab axis was determined by the labeling of one blastomere in cloned mouse embryos at the 2-cell stage, followed by ex-vivo tracking until the blastocyst stage. The results demonstrate that approximately half of the cloned blastocysts had an Em-Ab axis perpendicular to the initial cleavage plane of the 2-cell stage. These embryos were classified as orthogonal and the remainder as deviant. Additionally, we report here that cloned embryos were significantly more often orthogonal than their naturally fertilized counterparts and overexpressed Sox2. Orthogonal cloned embryos demonstrated a higher rate of post-implantation embryonic development than deviant embryos, but cloned pups did not all survive. These results reveal that the angular relationship between the Em-Ab axis and the first cleavage plane can influence later development and they support the hypothesis that proper early patterning of mammalian embryos is required after nuclear transfer.

Post-translational methylation of arginine residues profoundly affects the structure and functions of protein and, hence, implicated in a myriad of essential cellular processes such as signal transduction, mRNA splicing and transcriptional regulation. Protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs), the enzymes catalyzing arginine methylation have been extensively studied in animals, yeast and, to some extent, in model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Eight genes coding for the PRMTs were identified in Oryza sativa, previously. Here, we report that these genes show distinct expression patterns in various parts of the plant. In vivo targeting experiment demonstrated that GFP-tagged OsPRMT1, OsPRMT5 and OsPRMT10 were localized to both the cytoplasm and nucleus, whereas OsPRMT6a and OsPRMT6b were predominantly localized to the nucleus. OsPRMT1, OsPRMT4, OsPRMT5, OsPRMT6a, OsPRMT6b and OsPRMT10 exhibited in vitro arginine methyltransferase activity against myelin basic protein, glycine-arginine-rich domain of fibrillarin and calf thymus core histones. Furthermore, they depicted specificities for the arginine residues in histones H3 and H4 and were classified into type I and Type II PRMTs, based on the formation of type of dimethylarginine in the substrate proteins. The two homologs of OsPRMT6 showed direct interaction in vitro and further titrating different amounts of these proteins in the methyltransferase assay revealed that OsPRMT6a inhibits the methyltransferase activity of OsPRMT6b, probably, by the formation of heterodimer. The identification and characterization of PRMTs in rice suggests the conservation of arginine methylation in monocots and hold promise for gaining further insight into regulation of plant development.

Histone proteins contain epigenetic information that is encoded both in the relative abundance of core histones and variants and particularly in the post-translational modification of these proteins. We determined the presence of such variants and covalent modifications in seven tissue types of the anuran Xenopus laevis, including oocyte, egg, sperm, early embryo equivalent (pronuclei incubated in egg extract), S3 neurula cells, A6 kidney cells, and erythrocytes. We first developed a new robust method for isolating the stored, predeposition histones from oocytes and eggs via chromatography on heparin-Sepharose, whereas we isolated chromatinized histones via conventional acid extraction. We identified two previously unknown H1 isoforms (H1fx and H1B.Sp) present on sperm chromatin. We immunoblotted this global collection of histones with many specific post-translational modification antibodies, including antibodies against methylated histone H3 on Lys(4), Lys(9), Lys(27), Lys(79), Arg(2), Arg(17), and Arg(26); methylated histone H4 on Lys(20); methylated H2A and H4 on Arg(3); acetylated H4 on Lys(5), Lys(8), Lys(12), and Lys(16) and H3 on Lys(9) and Lys(14); and phosphorylated H3 on Ser(10) and H2A/H4 on Ser(1). Furthermore, we subjected a subset of these histones to two-dimensional gel analysis and subsequent immunoblotting and mass spectrometry to determine the global remodeling of histone modifications that occurs as development proceeds. Overall, our observations suggest that each metazoan cell type may have a unique histone modification signature correlated with its differentiation status.