De novo DNA methyltransferases DNMT3A and DNMT3B are essential for XIST silencing for erosion of dosage compensation in pluripotent stem cells.

Stem Cell Reports
Authors
Abstract

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have proven to be valuable tools for both drug discovery and the development of cell-based therapies. However, the long non-coding RNA XIST, which is essential for the establishment and maintenance of X chromosome inactivation, is repressed during culture, thereby causing erosion of dosage compensation in female hPSCs. Here, we report that the de novo DNA methyltransferases DNMT3A/3B are necessary for XIST repression in female hPSCs. We found that the deletion of both genes, but not the individual genes, inhibited XIST silencing, maintained the heterochromatin mark of H3K27me3, and did not cause global overdosage in X-linked genes. Meanwhile, DNMT3A/3B deletion after XIST repression failed to restore X chromosome inactivation. Our findings revealed that de novo DNA methyltransferases are primary factors responsible for initiating erosion of dosage compensation in female hPSCs, and XIST silencing is stably maintained in a de novo DNA-methylation-independent manner.

Year of Publication
2021
Journal
Stem Cell Reports
Date Published
2021 Aug 05
ISSN
2213-6711
DOI
10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.07.015
PubMed ID
34416176
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