title: Environmental stress and transposon transcription in the mammalian brain.
abstract: We recently reported that acute stress causes a substantial upregulation of the epigenetic mark, Histone H3 Lysine 9 Trimethyl (H3K9me3) in the rat hippocampus within an hour of acute stress exposure. To determine the function of this change we used ChIP-sequencing to determine where this silencing mark was being localized. We found that it showed a strong bias toward localization at more active classes of retrotransposable elements and away from genes. Further, we showed that the change was functional in that it reduced transcription of some of these elements (notably the endogenous retrovirus IAP and the B2 SINE). In this commentary we examine these results, which appear to describe a selective genomic stress response and relate it to human health and disease, particularly stress related maladies such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, which have recently been shown to have both epigenetic elements in their causation as well as differences in epigenetic marking of retrotransposons in human patients.
authors.affiliation: University of Massachusetts; Department of Psychology; Boston, MA USA.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Bruce S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: McEwen
authors.forename: Donald W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Pfaff
keywords: chromatin; corticosteroid; epigenetic; heterochromatin; hippocampus; post-traumatic stress disorder
references.citation: Annu Rev Med. 2011;62:431-45
references.pmid: 20707675
references.citation: Trends Biochem Sci. 2012 Apr;37(4):144-51
references.pmid: 22300815
references.citation: Biol Psychiatry. 2004 Dec 1;56(11):844-52
references.pmid: 15576061
references.citation: Science. 2007 Jun 8;316(5830):1484-8
references.pmid: 17510325
references.citation: J Neurochem. 1962 Nov-Dec;9:595-605
references.pmid: 13945540
references.citation: Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2004 Sep;11(9):822-9
references.pmid: 15300239
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Feb;1186:190-222
references.pmid: 20201874
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2001 Mar;933:265-77
references.pmid: 12000027
references.citation: Nature. 2005 Jun 16;435(7044):903-10
references.pmid: 15959507
references.citation: Eur J Neurosci. 2004 Mar;19(5):1199-206
references.pmid: 15016078
references.citation: Neuropharmacology. 2012 Jan;62(1):3-12
references.pmid: 21807003
references.citation: Brookhaven Symp Biol. 1972;23:366-70
references.pmid: 5065367
references.citation: Science. 2010 Jan 8;327(5962):213-6
references.pmid: 20056891
references.citation: Immunol Rev. 2004 Aug;200:233-48
references.pmid: 15242409
references.citation: Steroids. 2000 Dec;65(12):895-901
references.pmid: 11077088
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Dec 8;106(49):20912-7
references.pmid: 19934035
references.citation: Hum Mol Genet. 2007 Oct 15;16 Spec No. 2:R159-67
references.pmid: 17911158
references.citation: Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Dec;15(12):576-84
references.pmid: 22078931
references.citation: Nature. 1980 Apr 17;284(5757):604-7
references.pmid: 7366731
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Sep;1204 Suppl:E38-59
references.pmid: 20840167
references.citation: Cell. 2012 May 11;149(4):847-59
references.pmid: 22541070
references.citation: Neurobiol Aging. 2007 Mar;28(3):447-58
references.pmid: 16540204
references.citation: Mol Cell. 2008 Feb 29;29(4):499-509
references.pmid: 18313387
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 23;109(43):17657-62
references.pmid: 23043114
references.citation: Front Cell Neurosci. 2012 Apr 19;6:18
references.pmid: 22529779
references.citation: Science. 2000 Jan 14;287(5451):248-51
references.pmid: 10634773
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Feb 15;108(7):3035-40
references.pmid: 21300862
references.citation: Prog Brain Res. 2008;167:121-35
references.pmid: 18037011
references.citation: J Psychiatr Res. 2008 Oct;42(13):1104-11
references.pmid: 18281061
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2012 Nov;15(11):1475-84
references.pmid: 23064380
references.citation: Science. 2002 May 3;296(5569):916-9
references.pmid: 11988577
references.citation: Science. 2012 Sep 7;337(6099):1190-5
references.pmid: 22955828
references.citation: IUBMB Life. 2009 Aug;61(8):831-7
references.pmid: 19621349
references.citation: Prion. 2010 Apr-Jun;4(2):87-93
references.pmid: 20424511
references.citation: Exp Oncol. 2011 Dec;33(4):198-205
references.pmid: 22217707
references.citation: Physiol Rev. 2007 Jul;87(3):873-904
references.pmid: 17615391
references.citation: Science. 1984 Nov 16;226(4676):792-801
references.pmid: 15739260
references.citation: Cell. 2010 Jun 25;141(7):1253-61
references.pmid: 20603005
references.citation: Epigenomics. 2012 Feb;4(1):29-40
references.pmid: 22332656