skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A partially disordered region connects gene repression and activation functions of EZH2

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2 (EZH2) is the catalytic subunit of Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), which minimally requires two other subunits, EED and SUZ12, for enzymatic activity. EZH2 has been traditionally known to mediate histone H3K27 trimethylation, a hallmark of silent chromatin. Emerging evidence indicates that EZH2 also activates gene expression in cancer cells in a context distinct from canonical PRC2. The molecular mechanism underlying the functional conversion of EZH2 from a gene repressor to an activator is unclear. In this work, we show that EZH2 harbors a hidden, partially disordered transactivation domain (TAD) capable of interacting with components of active transcription machinery, mimicking archetypal acidic activators. The EZH2 TAD comprises the SRM (Stimulation-Responsive Motif) and SANT1 (SWI3, ADA2, N-CoR, and TFIIIB 1) regions that are normally involved in H3K27 methylation. The crystal structure of an EZH2–EED binary complex indicates that the EZH2 TAD mediates protein oligomerization in a noncanonical PRC2 context and is entirely sequestered. The EZH2 TAD can be unlocked by cancer-specific EZH2 phosphorylation events to undergo structural transitions that may enable subsequent transcriptional coactivator binding. The EZH2 TAD directly interacts with the transcriptional coactivator and histone acetyltransferase p300 and activates gene expression in a p300-dependent manner in cells. The corresponding TAD may also account for the gene activation function of EZH1, the paralog of EZH2. Distinct kinase signaling pathways that are known to abnormally convert EZH2 into a gene activator in cancer cells can now be understood in a common structural context of the EZH2 TAD.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)
Sponsoring Organization:
Welch Foundation; Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT); Rita Allen Foundation; UT Southwestern Medical Center Endowed Scholar; American Heart Association (AHA); Cecil H. and Ida Green Center Training Program in Reproductive Biology Sciences Research; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Institutes of Health (NIH); National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Grant/Contract Number:
I-1790; I-1304; R1119; GM114576; GM121662; GM136308; AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231; AC02-76SF00515; P30 GM124169-01, ALS-ENABLE
OSTI ID:
1642238
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 117, Issue 29; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 24 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (55)

EZH2 expands breast stem cells through activation of NOTCH1 signaling journal February 2014
Akt-Mediated Phosphorylation of EZH2 Suppresses Methylation of Lysine 27 in Histone H3 journal October 2005
Refinement of Macromolecular Structures by the Maximum-Likelihood Method journal May 1997
Polycomb repressive complex 2 structure with inhibitor reveals a mechanism of activation and drug resistance journal April 2016
Overview of the CCP 4 suite and current developments journal March 2011
Polycomb- and Methylation-Independent Roles of EZH2 as a Transcription Activator journal December 2018
Estimation of protein secondary structure and error analysis from circular dichroism spectra journal November 1990
Synergistic activation of transcription by CBP and p53 journal June 1997
PRIMUS: a Windows PC-based system for small-angle scattering data analysis journal September 2003
Developmental Control of Polycomb Subunit Composition by GATA Factors Mediates a Switch to Non-Canonical Functions journal January 2015
Intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular signalling and regulation journal December 2014
Intrinsically unstructured proteins and their functions journal March 2005
Binding Interactions between Long Noncoding RNA HOTAIR and PRC2 Proteins journal December 2013
Induced  Helix in the VP16 Activation Domain upon Binding to a Human TAF journal August 1997
EZH2 overexpression in natural killer/T-cell lymphoma confers growth advantage independently of histone methyltransferase activity journal May 2013
PAF and EZH2 Induce Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Hyperactivation journal October 2013
High-Precision Isothermal Titration Calorimetry with Automated Peak-Shape Analysis journal June 2012
Dignam and Roeder Nuclear Extract Preparation journal December 2009
Phosphorylation of EZH2 Activates STAT3 Signaling via STAT3 Methylation and Promotes Tumorigenicity of Glioblastoma Stem-like Cells journal June 2013
Ezh1 and Ezh2 Maintain Repressive Chromatin through Different Mechanisms journal November 2008
Recognition of the disordered p53 transactivation domain by the transcriptional adapter zinc finger domains of CREB-binding protein journal March 2016
Chemical shift dispersion and secondary structure prediction in unfolded and partly folded proteins journal December 1997
Conserved RNA-binding specificity of polycomb repressive complex 2 is achieved by dispersed amino acid patches in EZH2 journal November 2017
TRIM28 interacts with EZH2 and SWI/SNF to activate genes that promote mammosphere formation journal January 2017
Discovery of a selective catalytic p300/CBP inhibitor that targets lineage-specific tumours journal September 2017
Mutational analysis of a transcriptional activation region of the VP16 protein of herpes simplex virus [published erratum appears in Nucleic Acids Res 1998 Dec 1;26(23):537-8] journal October 1998
Regulation of embryonic haematopoietic multipotency by EZH1 journal January 2018
Structural basis of histone H3K27 trimethylation by an active polycomb repressive complex 2 journal October 2015
Estimation of Protein Secondary Structure from Circular Dichroism Spectra: Comparison of CONTIN, SELCON, and CDSSTR Methods with an Expanded Reference Set journal December 2000
Recruitment of p300/CBP in p53-Dependent Signal Pathways journal June 1997
Studying multisite binary and ternary protein interactions by global analysis of isothermal titration calorimetry data in SEDPHAT: Application to adaptor protein complexes in cell signaling journal January 2007
A model for transmission of the H3K27me3 epigenetic mark journal October 2008
EZH2 Oncogenic Activity in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Cells Is Polycomb-Independent journal December 2012
Integration of Estrogen and Wnt Signaling Circuits by the Polycomb Group Protein EZH2 in Breast Cancer Cells journal May 2007
Four domains of p300 each bind tightly to a sequence spanning both transactivation subdomains of p53 journal April 2007
Implementation and performance of SIBYLS: a dual endstation small-angle X-ray scattering and macromolecular crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source journal January 2013
RNA exploits an exposed regulatory site to inhibit the enzymatic activity of PRC2 journal March 2019
Cryo-EM structures of PRC2 simultaneously engaged with two functionally distinct nucleosomes journal January 2018
DICHROWEB, an online server for protein secondary structure analyses from circular dichroism spectroscopic data journal July 2004
Polycomb Protein Ezh1 Promotes RNA Polymerase II Elongation journal January 2012
Coot model-building tools for molecular graphics journal November 2004
Structural Basis of EZH2 Recognition by EED journal October 2007
The EZH2 SANT1 domain is a histone reader providing sensitivity to the modification state of the H4 tail journal January 2019
Estimation of globular protein secondary structure from circular dichroism journal January 1981
PHENIX: a comprehensive Python-based system for macromolecular structure solution journal January 2010
NMRPipe: A multidimensional spectral processing system based on UNIX pipes journal November 1995
Genome Regulation by Polycomb and Trithorax: 70 Years and Counting journal September 2017
EZH2 phosphorylation by JAK3 mediates a switch to noncanonical function in natural killer/T-cell lymphoma journal August 2016
A practical guide to small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) of flexible and intrinsically disordered proteins journal August 2015
SUZ12 Is Required for Both the Histone Methyltransferase Activity and the Silencing Function of the EED-EZH2 Complex journal July 2004
Structural basis of oncogenic histone H3K27M inhibition of human polycomb repressive complex 2 journal April 2016
Targeting EZH2 in cancer journal February 2016
Context-Specific Regulation of NF-κB Target Gene Expression by EZH2 in Breast Cancers journal September 2011
Phaser crystallographic software journal July 2007
Acetylation of Estrogen Receptor α by p300 at Lysines 266 and 268 Enhances the Deoxyribonucleic Acid Binding and Transactivation Activities of the Receptor journal July 2006

Similar Records

An Evolutionarily Conserved Structural Platform for PRC2 Inhibition by a Class of Ezh2 Inhibitors
Journal Article · Thu Jun 14 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Scientific Reports · OSTI ID:1642238

Characterization of histone H3K27 modifications in the {beta}-globin locus
Journal Article · Fri Feb 11 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · OSTI ID:1642238

microRNA-124a suppresses PHF19 over-expression, EZH2 hyper-activation, and aberrant cell proliferation in human glioma
Journal Article · Sat Sep 15 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · OSTI ID:1642238