Histone deacetylase 3 associates with MeCP2 to regulate FOXO and social behavior

Alexi Nott*, Jemmie Cheng, Fan Gao, Yuan Ta Lin, Elizabeta Gjoneska, Tak Ko, Paras Minhas, Alicia Viridiana Zamudio, Jia Meng, Feiran Zhang, Peng Jin, Li Huei Tsai

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

90 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Mutations in MECP2 cause the neurodevelopmental disorder Rett syndrome (RTT). The RTT missense MECP2 R306C mutation prevents MeCP2 from interacting with the NCoR/histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) complex; however, the neuronal function of HDAC3 is incompletely understood. We found that neuronal deletion of Hdac3 in mice elicited abnormal locomotor coordination, sociability and cognition. Transcriptional and chromatin profiling revealed that HDAC3 positively regulated a subset of genes and was recruited to active gene promoters via MeCP2. HDAC3-associated promoters were enriched for the FOXO transcription factors, and FOXO acetylation was elevated in Hdac3 knockout (KO) and Mecp2 KO neurons. Human RTT-patient-derived MECP2 R306C neural progenitor cells had deficits in HDAC3 and FOXO recruitment and gene expression. Gene editing of MECP2 R306C cells to generate isogenic controls rescued HDAC3-FOXO-mediated impairments in gene expression. Our data suggest that HDAC3 interaction with MeCP2 positively regulates a subset of neuronal genes through FOXO deacetylation, and disruption of HDAC3 contributes to cognitive and social impairment.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1497-1505
Number of pages9
JournalNature Neuroscience
Volume19
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Oct 2016

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