The histone methyltransferase Setd8 represses Gata2 expression and regulates erythroid maturation

The chromatin modifying enzymes that drive the erythroid-specific transcription program are incompletely understood. Setd8 is the sole histone methyltransferase in mammals capable of generating mono-methylated histone H4 lysine 20 (H4K20me1) and is expressed at significantly higher levels in erythroid cells than any other cell- or tissue- type, suggesting that Setd8 has an erythroid-specific function. To test this hypothesis, stable knockdown of Setd8 was established in extensively self-renewing erythroblasts (ESREs), a well-characterized, non-transformed, model of erythroid maturation. Setd8 knockdown impaired erythroid maturation, characterized by a delay in hemoglobin accumulation, larger cell area, persistent kit expression, incomplete nuclear condensation, and lower rates of enucleation than control cells. Setd8 knockdown did not alter ESRE proliferation or viability, or result in accumulation of DNA damage. Global gene expression analyses following Setd8 knockdown suggests that in erythroid cells, Setd8 functions primarily as a repressor and demonstrated high levels of Gata2 expression. Setd8 occupies critical regulatory elements in the Gata2 locus, and knockdown of Setd8 resulted in loss of H4K20me1 and gain of H4 acetylation at the Gata2 1S promoter. Taken together, these results imply that Setd8 is an important regulator of erythroid maturation that works in part through repression of Gata2. RNA-seq was performed of Setd8 knockdown and control cells, both while the cells were proliferating, and after 6 hours of maturation.