Role of the GATA-1/FOG-1/NuRD Pathway in the Expression of Human β-Like Globin Genes

Abstract

The human β-globin genes are expressed in a developmentally controlled fashion. Studies on the molecular mechanisms underlying the stage-specific regulation of globin genes have been fueled by the clinical benefit of elevated fetal γ-globin expression in patients with sickle cell anemia and thalassemia. Recent reports suggested a role of the hematopoietic transcription factor GATA-1, its cofactor FOG-1, and the associated chromatin remodeling complex NuRD in the developmental silencing of HBG1 and HBG2 gene expression. To examine whether FOG-1 via NuRD controls HBG1 and HBG2 silencing in vivo, we created mice in which the FOG-1/NuRD complex is disrupted (A. Miccio et al., EMBO J. 29:442-456, 2010) and crossed these with animals carrying the entire human β-globin gene locus as a transgene. We found that the FOG-1/NuRD interaction is dispensable for the silencing of human HBG1 and HBG2 expression. In addition, mutant animals displayed normal silencing of the endogenous embryonic globin genes. In contrast, a significant reduction of adult-type human and murine globin gene expression was found in adult bone marrows of mutant animals. These results suggest that, unexpectedly, NuRD is required for FOG-1-dependent activation of adult-type globin gene expression but is dispensable for human γ-globin silencing in vivo.

We thank Wei Hong for help with the breeding of Fog1^ki/ki/hβ-YAC mice, Stephan Kadauke for the critical reading of the manuscript, and the members of Blobel and Weiss laboratories for valuable discussions.

This work was supported by NIH grants DK54937 and DK58044.