E-MTAB-11387
EZH2-mediated H3K27me3 targets transcriptional circuits of neuronal differentiation
Our work describes novel roles for EZH2 in the specification of cortical neurons. Previous reports established the current model of EZH2-mediated control of neuronal progenitors differentiation through the regulation of their proliferation and developmental transitions. We built on these findings and studied the role of EZH2 in post-mitotic glutamatergic neurons differentiated  from embryonic stem cells, a particularly relevant cell type where the impact of its regulation has thus far remained elusive.  Briefly, our key results can be summarized as follows: 1. The conditional deletion of EZH2 at the moment of cell cycle exit in neural progenitors allowed us to study the role of EZH2 selectively in post-mitotic glutamatergic neurons. 2. Time course transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses of H3K27me3 in absence of EZH2 revealed a significant dysregulation of transcriptional networks affecting synaptic plasticity, in particular long term depression. 3. These analyses also revealed potential novel roles of EZH2 in controlling the regulation between the glutamatergic signature and the GABAergic one, suggesting a mechanism entailing failure of Prdm13 repression, a histone methyltransferase with a known role in determining GABAergic neurons specification.
Our work describes novel roles for EZH2 in the specification of cortical neurons. Previous reports established the current model of EZH2-mediated control of neuronal progenitors differentiation through the regulation of their proliferation and developmental transitions. We built on these findings and studied the role of EZH2 in post-mitotic glutamatergic neurons differentiated  from embryonic stem cells, a particularly relevant cell type where the impact of its regulation has thus far remained elusive.  Briefly, our key results can be summarized as follows: 1. The conditional deletion of EZH2 at the moment of cell cycle exit in neural progenitors allowed us to study the role of EZH2 selectively in post-mitotic glutamatergic neurons. 2. Time course transcriptomic and epigenomic analyses of H3K27me3 in absence of EZH2 revealed a significant dysregulation of transcriptional networks affecting synaptic plasticity, in particular long term depression. 3. These analyses also revealed potential novel roles of EZH2 in controlling the regulation between the glutamatergic signature and the GABAergic one, suggesting a mechanism entailing failure of Prdm13 repression, a histone methyltransferase with a known role in determining GABAergic neurons specification.