The histone demethylase Jarid1b ensures faithful mouse development by protecting developmental genes from aberrant H3K4me3 [Affymetrix]

Embryonic development is tightly regulated by transcription factors and chromatin-associated proteins. H3K4me3 is associated with active transcription and H3K27me3 with gene repression, while the combination of both keeps genes required for development in a plastic state. Here we show that deletion of the H3K4me2/3 histone demethylase Jarid1b (Kdm5b/Plu1) results in major neonatal lethality due to respiratory failure. Jarid1b knockout embryos have several neural defects including disorganized cranial nerves, defects in eye development and increased incidences of exencephaly. Moreover, in line with an overlap of Jarid1b and Polycomb targets genes, Jarid1b knockout embryos display homeotic skeletal transformations typical for Polycomb mutants. Genome-wide analysis demonstrated that normally inactive genes encoding developmental regulators acquire aberrant H3K4me3 in early Jarid1b knockout embryos. H3K4me3 accumulates as embryonic development proceeds, leading to increased expression of neural master regulators in knockouts. Taken together, these results suggest that Jarid1b contributes to mouse development by protecting developmental genes from inappropriate acquisition of active histone modifications.

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Albert M, Schmitz SU, Kooistra SM, Malatesta M, Morales Torres C, Rekling JC, Johansen JV, Abarrategui I, Helin K