The Hippo effector Yorkie activates transcription by interacting with a histone methyltransferase complex through Ncoa6

  1. Yun Qing
  2. Feng Yin
  3. Wei Wang
  4. Yonggang Zheng
  5. Pengfei Guo
  6. Frederick Schozer
  7. Hua Deng
  8. Duojia Pan  Is a corresponding author
  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, United States
  2. Johns Hopkins University, United States

Abstract

The Hippo signaling pathway regulates tissue growth in Drosophila through the transcriptional coactivator Yorkie (Yki). How Yki activates target gene transcription is poorly understood. Here we identify Nuclear receptor coactivator 6 (Ncoa6), a subunit of the Trithorax-related (Trr) histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methyltransferase complex, as a Yki-binding protein. Like Yki, Ncoa6 and Trr are functionally required for Hippo-mediated growth control and target gene expression. Strikingly, artificial tethering of Ncoa6 to Sd is sufficient to promote tissue growth and Yki target expression even in the absence of Yki, underscoring the importance of Yki-mediated recruitment of Ncoa6 in transcriptional activation. Consistent with the established role for the Trr complex in histone methylation, we show that Yki, Ncoa6 and Trr are required for normal H3K4 methylation at Hippo target genes. These findings shed light on Yki-mediated transcriptional regulation and uncover a potential link between chromatin modification and tissue growth.

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Author details

  1. Yun Qing

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  2. Feng Yin

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Wei Wang

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Yonggang Zheng

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Pengfei Guo

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  6. Frederick Schozer

    Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Hua Deng

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  8. Duojia Pan

    Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States
    For correspondence
    djpan@jhmi.edu
    Competing interests
    Duojia Pan, Reviewing editor, eLife.

Copyright

© 2014, Qing et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Yun Qing
  2. Feng Yin
  3. Wei Wang
  4. Yonggang Zheng
  5. Pengfei Guo
  6. Frederick Schozer
  7. Hua Deng
  8. Duojia Pan
(2014)
The Hippo effector Yorkie activates transcription by interacting with a histone methyltransferase complex through Ncoa6
eLife 3:e02564.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02564

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02564

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