Differential phosphorylation of Clr4SUV39H by Cdk1 accompanies a histone H3 methylation switch that is essential for gametogenesis

Tahsin Kuzdere, Valentin Flury, Thomas Schalch, Vytautas Iesmantavicius, Daniel Hess, Marc Bühler*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Methylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9) is a hallmark of heterochromatin that plays crucial roles in gene silencing, genome stability, and chromosome segregation. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Clr4 mediates both di- and tri-methylation of H3K9. Although H3K9 methylation has been intensely studied in mitotic cells, its role during sexual differentiation remains unclear. Here, we map H3K9 methylation genome-wide during meiosis and show that constitutive heterochromatin temporarily loses H3K9me2 and becomes H3K9me3 when cells commit to meiosis. Cells lacking the ability to tri-methylate H3K9 exhibit meiotic chromosome segregation defects. Finally, the H3K9 methylation switch is accompanied by differential phosphorylation of Clr4 by the cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk1. Our results suggest that a conserved master regulator of the cell cycle controls the specificity of an H3K9 methyltransferase to prevent ectopic H3K9 methylation and to ensure faithful gametogenesis.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere55928
JournalEMBO Reports
Volume24
Issue number1
Number of pages13
ISSN1469-221X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

Keywords

  • chromosome segregation
  • fission yeast
  • histone methylation
  • meiosis
  • phosphorylation

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