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Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2004, p. 5710-5720, Vol. 24, No. 13
0270-7306/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.13.5710-5720.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Histone Code Modifications on Pluripotential Nuclei of Reprogrammed Somatic Cells

Hironobu Kimura,1 Masako Tada,1,2 Norio Nakatsuji,1 and Takashi Tada1*

Department of Development and Differentiation, Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto,1 ReproCell, Inc., Tokyo, Japan2

Received 28 November 2003/ Returned for modification 9 February 2004/ Accepted 29 March 2004

Following hybridization with embryonic stem (ES) cells, somatic genomes are epigenetically reprogrammed and acquire pluripotency. This results in the transcription of somatic genome-derived tissue-specific genes upon differentiation. During nuclear reprogramming, it is expected that DNA and chromatin modifications, believed to function in cell-type-specific epigenotype memory, should be significantly modified. Indeed, current evidence indicates that acetylation and methylation of histone H3 and H4 amino termini play a major role in the regulation of gene activity through the modulation of chromatin conformation. Here, we show that the reprogrammed somatic genome of ES hybrid cells becomes hyperacetylated at H3 and H4, while lysine 4 (K4) of H3 becomes globally hyper-di- and -tri-methylated. In the Oct4 promoter region, histones H3 and H4 are acetylated and H3-K4 is highly tri-methylated on both the ES and reprogrammed somatic genomes, which correlates with gene activation and DNA demethylation. However, H3-K4 is also di- and tri-methylated in the promoter regions of Neurofilament-M (Nfm), Nfl, and Thy-1, which are all silent in both ES and hybrid cells. Thus, H3-K4 di- and tri-methylation of reprogrammed somatic genomes is independent of gene activity and represents one of the major events that occurs during somatic genome reprogramming towards a transcriptional activation-permissive state.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Development and Differentiation, Institute for Frontier Medical, Sciences, Kyoto University, 53 Kawahara-cho, Shogoin, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan. Phone: 81-75-751-3823. Fax: 81-75-751-3890. E-mail: ttada{at}frontier.kyoto-u.ac.jp.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, July 2004, p. 5710-5720, Vol. 24, No. 13
0022-538X/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/MCB.24.13.5710-5720.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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