Establishment of constitutive heterochromatin in Drosophila early embryos involves H3K14ac-mediated recruitment of Eggless/SetDB1
The establishment of heterochromatin is a crucial process in the early embryonic development. Recent research suggests that SetDB1 is necessary for heterochromatin establishment in the early embryonic development of Drosophila. Additionally, SetDB1 has been found to bind to H3K14ac in mammalian cells. However, the role of the H3K14ac in heterochromatin establishment during embryogenesis remains unknown. Here we discovered that the active modification H3K14ac serves as an intergenerational marker from oocytes to early embryos, and it is recognized by Eggless/SetDB1 through its Tudor domains. Furthermore, we have introduced a point-mutation in the endogenous Eggless/SetDB1 locus, resulting in the loss of H3K14ac-binding. Both H3K14ac attenuation and SetDB1 mutant embryos exhibit abnormal heterochromatin formation and genomic instability. We reveal a novel model of heterochromatin establishment via H3K14ac-mediated recruitment of SetDB1. Overall design: Chromatin immunoprecipitation DNA-sequencing (ChIP-seq) for the histone modifications H3K14ac, H3K9me3 and the histone methyltransferase SetDB1 in Drosophila early embryos (stage 4 to 6).