Cell Reports (Oct 2016)

Nono, a Bivalent Domain Factor, Regulates Erk Signaling and Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Pluripotency

  • Chun Ma,
  • Violetta Karwacki-Neisius,
  • Haoran Tang,
  • Wenjing Li,
  • Zhennan Shi,
  • Haolin Hu,
  • Wenqi Xu,
  • Zhentian Wang,
  • Lingchun Kong,
  • Ruitu Lv,
  • Zheng Fan,
  • Wenhao Zhou,
  • Pengyuan Yang,
  • Feizhen Wu,
  • Jianbo Diao,
  • Li Tan,
  • Yujiang Geno Shi,
  • Fei Lan,
  • Yang Shi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.078
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 4
pp. 997 – 1007

Abstract

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Nono is a component of the para-speckle, which stores and processes RNA. Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) lack para-speckles, leaving the function of Nono in mESCs unclear. Here, we find that Nono functions as a chromatin regulator cooperating with Erk to regulate mESC pluripotency. We report that Nono loss results in robust self-renewing mESCs with epigenomic and transcriptomic features resembling the 2i (GSK and Erk inhibitors)-induced “ground state.” Erk interacts with and is required for Nono localization to a subset of bivalent genes that have high levels of poised RNA polymerase. Nono loss compromises Erk activation and RNA polymerase poising at its target bivalent genes in undifferentiated mESCs, thus disrupting target gene activation and differentiation. These findings argue that Nono collaborates with Erk signaling to regulate the integrity of bivalent domains and mESC pluripotency.

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