SET-9 and SET-26 are H3K4me3 readers and play critical roles in germline development and longevity

Abstract

C. elegans SET-9 and SET-26 are highly homologous paralogs that share redundant functions in germline development, but SET-26 alone plays a key role in longevity and heat stress response. SET-26 is broadly expressed, but SET-9 is only detectable in the germline, which likely account for their different biological roles. SET-9 and SET-26 bind to H3K4me3 with adjacent acetylation marks in vitroand in vivo. In the soma, SET-26 acts through DAF-16 to modulate longevity. In the germline, SET-9 and SET-26 restrict H3K4me3 domains around SET-9 and SET-26 binding sites, and regulate the expression of specific target genes, with critical consequence on germline development. SET-9 and SET-26 are highly conserved and our findings provide new insights into the critical role of these H3K4me3 readers in germline function and longevity.

Data availability

Sequencing data have been deposited in GEO under accession codes GSE108848 and GSE100623.

The following data sets were generated
The following previously published data sets were used

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Wenke Wang

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Amaresh Chaturbedi

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Minghui Wang

    Computational Biology Service Unit, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Serim An

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Satheeja Santhi

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Siu Sylvia Lee

    Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
    For correspondence
    sylvia.lee@cornell.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-9767-0056

Funding

National Institutes of Health (R01 grant AG024425)

  • Siu Sylvia Lee

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2018, Wang 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. Wenke Wang
  2. Amaresh Chaturbedi
  3. Minghui Wang
  4. Serim An
  5. Satheeja Santhi
  6. Siu Sylvia Lee
(2018)
SET-9 and SET-26 are H3K4me3 readers and play critical roles in germline development and longevity
eLife 7:e34970.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.34970

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.34970

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