- Local, Andrea;
- Huang, Hui;
- Albuquerque, Claudio P;
- Singh, Namit;
- Lee, Ah Young;
- Wang, Wei;
- Wang, Chaochen;
- Hsia, Judy E;
- Shiau, Andrew K;
- Ge, Kai;
- Corbett, Kevin D;
- Wang, Dong;
- Zhou, Huilin;
- Ren, Bing
Enhancers act to regulate cell-type-specific gene expression by facilitating the transcription of target genes. In mammalian cells, active or primed enhancers are commonly marked by monomethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me1) in a cell-type-specific manner. Whether and how this histone modification regulates enhancer-dependent transcription programs in mammals is unclear. In this study, we conducted SILAC mass spectrometry experiments with mononucleosomes and identified multiple H3K4me1-associated proteins, including many involved in chromatin remodeling. We demonstrate that H3K4me1 augments association of the chromatin-remodeling complex BAF to enhancers in vivo and that, in vitro, H3K4me1-marked nucleosomes are more efficiently remodeled by the BAF complex. Crystal structures of the BAF component BAF45C indicate that monomethylation, but not trimethylation, is accommodated by BAF45C's H3K4-binding site. Our results suggest that H3K4me1 has an active role at enhancers by facilitating binding of the BAF complex and possibly other chromatin regulators.