title: Proper Activity of Histone H3 Lysine 4 (H3K4) Methyltransferase Is Required for Morphogenesis during Zebrafish Cardiogenesis.
abstract: While increasing evidence indicates the important function of histone methylation during development, how this process influences cardiac development in vertebrates has not been explored. Here, we elucidate the functions of two histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methylation enzymes, SMYD3 and SETD7, during zebrafish heart morphogenesis using gene expression profiling by whole mount in situ hybridization and antisense morpholino oligonucleotide (MO)-based gene knockdown. We find both smyd3 and setd7 are highly expressed within developing zebrafish heart and knock-down of these genes led to severe defects in cardiac morphogenesis without altering the expressions pattern of heart markers, including cmlc2, vmhc, and amhc. Furthermore, double knock-down by coinjection of smyd3 and setd7 MOs caused the synergistic defects in heart development. As similar to knock-down effect, overexpression of these genes also caused the heart morphogenesis defect in zebrafish. These results indicate that histone modifying enzymes, SMYD3 and SETD7, appear to function synergistically during heart development and their proper functioning is essential for normal heart morphogenesis during development.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.|Yale Cardiovascular Research Center, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Jun-Dae
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Eunmi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Soonil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koun
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyung-Jin
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Ham
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Korea.
authors.forename: Myungchull
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Myoung-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Biotechnology (BK 21 plus program), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 702-701, Korea.|Korea Basic Science Institute Daegu Center, Daegu 702-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Lin
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Huh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000201:enzymology*; D015027:Zebrafish; D029961:Zebrafish Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D029961:Zebrafish Proteins; D011495:Histone-Lysine N-Methyltransferase
keywords: SETD7; SMYD3; heart morphogenesis; histone methyltransferase; zebrafish