Cell Reports (Apr 2024)

Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 recruits FACT and RNF20/40 to mediate histone ubiquitination and transcriptional activation of target genes

  • Yajing Lyu,
  • Yongkang Yang,
  • Varen Talwar,
  • Haiquan Lu,
  • Chelsey Chen,
  • Shaima Salman,
  • Elizabeth E. Wicks,
  • Tina Yi-Ting Huang,
  • Daiana Drehmer,
  • Yufeng Wang,
  • Qiaozhu Zuo,
  • Emmanuel Datan,
  • Walter Jackson, III,
  • Dominic Dordai,
  • Ru Wang,
  • Gregg L. Semenza

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43, no. 4
p. 113972

Abstract

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Summary: Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) is a transcriptional activator that mediates cellular adaptation to decreased oxygen availability. HIF-1 recruits chromatin-modifying enzymes leading to changes in histone acetylation, citrullination, and methylation at target genes. Here, we demonstrate that hypoxia-inducible gene expression in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive MCF7 and ER-negative SUM159 human breast cancer cells requires the histone H2A/H2B chaperone facilitates chromatin transcription (FACT) and the H2B ubiquitin ligase RING finger protein 20/40 (RNF20/40). Knockdown of FACT or RNF20/40 expression leads to decreased transcription initiation and elongation at HIF-1 target genes. Mechanistically, FACT and RNF20/40 are recruited to hypoxia response elements (HREs) by HIF-1 and stabilize binding of HIF-1 (and each other) at HREs. Hypoxia induces the monoubiquitination of histone H2B at lysine 120 at HIF-1 target genes in an HIF-1-dependent manner. Together, these findings delineate a cooperative molecular mechanism by which FACT and RNF20/40 stabilize multiprotein complex formation at HREs and mediate histone ubiquitination to facilitate HIF-1 transcriptional activity.

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