Genome-wide maps of histone modifications unwind in vivo chromatin states of the hair follicle lineage

Cell Stem Cell. 2011 Sep 2;9(3):219-32. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2011.07.015.

Abstract

Using mouse skin, where bountiful reservoirs of synchronized hair follicle stem cells (HF-SCs) fuel cycles of regeneration, we explore how adult SCs remodel chromatin in response to activating cues. By profiling global mRNA and chromatin changes in quiescent and activated HF-SCs and their committed, transit-amplifying (TA) progeny, we show that polycomb-group (PcG)-mediated H3K27-trimethylation features prominently in HF-lineage progression by mechanisms distinct from embryonic-SCs. In HF-SCs, PcG represses nonskin lineages and HF differentiation. In TA progeny, nonskin regulators remain PcG-repressed, HF-SC regulators acquire H3K27me3-marks, and HF-lineage regulators lose them. Interestingly, genes poised in embryonic stem cells, active in HF-SCs, and PcG-repressed in TA progeny encode not only key transcription factors, but also signaling regulators. We document their importance in balancing HF-SC quiescence, underscoring the power of chromatin mapping in dissecting SC behavior. Our findings explain how HF-SCs cycle through quiescent and activated states without losing stemness and define roles for PcG-mediated repression in governing a fate switch irreversibly.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Adult Stem Cells / pathology
  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation / genetics
  • Cell Lineage / genetics
  • Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Guided Tissue Regeneration
  • Hair Follicle / metabolism*
  • Hair Follicle / pathology
  • Histones / metabolism*
  • Mice
  • Polycomb-Group Proteins
  • Protein Processing, Post-Translational
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction / genetics
  • Skin / pathology

Substances

  • Histones
  • Polycomb-Group Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins

Associated data

  • GEO/GSE31028
  • GEO/GSE31239