Coordinated epigenome alteration is fundamental for cardiac development. However, the precise mechanisms by which epigenetic modifying enzymes regulate cardiac development are still unclear. Here we identify SET domain containing protein 7 (SETD7) as a key regulator of cardiac differentiation. ChIP-seq reveals that SETD7 has distinct groups of target genes and regulates its stage-specific expression during cardiomyocyte differentiation, which is crucial for lineage commitment. We find SETD7 associates with stage-specific co-factors, such as SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling factors during mesodermal formation and transcription factor NKX2-5 in cardiac progenitor differentiation. Cross-analysis of epigenetic modifications shows that SETD7 recognizes and binds with active histone marker H3K36 methylation on gene-body region of its target genes. We further demonstrate SETD7 is required for functional properties of terminally differentiated cardiomyocytes. Together, our results suggest unidentified roles of SETD7 in cardiac lineage commitment and provide new insights into the crosstalk between epigenetic dynamics and epigenetic modifying enzymes. SOURCE: Joseph Wu Stanford University School of Medicine

Pluto Bioinformatics

GSE107785: Essential Roles of SETD7 as Transcriptional Activator and Co-regulator of H3K36me in Cardiac Lineage Commitment