Controlled re-activation of epigenetically silenced Tet promoter-driven transgene expression by targeted demethylation.

Faithful expression of transgenes in cell cultures and mice is often challenged by locus dependent epigenetic silencing. We investigated silencing of Tet-controlled expression cassettes within the mouse ROSA26 locus. We observed pronounced DNA methylation of the Tet promoter concomitant with loss of expression in mES cells as well as in differentiated cells and transgenic animals. Strikingly, the ROSA26 promoter remains active and methylation free indicating that this silencing mechanism specifically affects the transgene, but does not spread to the host's chromosomal neighborhood. To reactivate Tet cassettes a synthetic fusion protein was constructed and expressed in silenced cells. This protein includes the enzymatic domains of ten eleven translocation methylcytosine dioxygenase 1 (TET-1) as well as the Tet repressor DNA binding domain. Expression of the synthetic fusion protein and Doxycycline treatment allowed targeted demethylation of the Tet promoter in the ROSA26 locus and in another genomic site, rescuing transgene expression in cells and transgenic mice. Thus, inducible, reversible and site-specific epigenetic modulation is a promising strategy for reactivation of silenced transgene expression, independent of the integration site.

Epigenetic modulations rendering cell-to-cell variability and phenotypic metastability.

Tumor cells display phenotypic plasticity and heterogeneity due to genetic and epigenetic variations which limit the predictability of therapeutic interventions. Chromatin modifications can arise stochastically but can also be a consequence of environmental influences such as the microenvironment of cancer cells. A better understanding of the impact and dynamics of epigenetic modulation at defined chromosomal sites is required to get access to the underlying mechanisms. We investigated the epigenetic modulations leading to cell-to-cell heterogeneity in a tumor cell line model. To this end, we analyzed expression variance in 80 genetically uniform cell populations having a single-copy reporter randomly integrated in the genome. Single-cell analysis showed high intraclonal heterogeneity. Epigenetic characterization revealed that expression heterogeneity was accompanied by differential histone marks whereas contribution of DNA methylation could be excluded. Strikingly, some clones revealed a highly dynamic, stochastically altered chromatin state of the transgene cassette which was accompanied with a metastable expression pattern. In contrast, other clones represented a robust chromatin state of the transgene cassette with a stable expression pattern. Together, these results elucidate locus-specific epigenetic modulation in gene expression that contributes to phenotypic heterogeneity of cells and might account for cellular plasticity.

Stability of single copy transgene expression in CHOK1 cells is affected by histone modifications but not by DNA methylation.

Intraclonal heterogeneity of genetically modified mammalian cells has been observed as a phenomenon that has a strong impact on overall transgene expression levels and that limits the predictability of transgene expression in genetically modified cells, thereby hampering single cell based screening approaches. The underlying mechanism(s) leading to this variance are poorly understood. To study the dynamics and mechanisms of heterogeneity of early stage silencing we analyzed the expression in more than 100 independent clones of CHOK1 cells that harbour genetically stable integrates of single copy reporter cassettes driven by EF1α and CMV promoters. Single cell analysis showed intraclonal variability with heterogeneity in expression in genetically uniform populations. DNA methylation is a well known mechanism responsible for silencing of gene expression. Interestingly, loss of expression was not associated with DNA methylation of the CMV promoter. However, in most of the clonal populations expression could be increased by inhibitors of the histone deacetylases (HDACi) suggesting that heterogeneity of transgene expression is crucially governed by histone modifications. Further, to determine if the epigenetic status of transgene expression is governed by the chromosomal integration locus we targeted heterologous expression cassettes into two chromosomal sites using recombinase mediated cassette exchange (RMCE). The expression status of a particular clone was faithfully re-established when the same promoter used. In this way the problem of early stage cell clone instability can be bypassed. However, upon introduction of an unrelated promoter methylation-independent silencing was observed. Together, these results suggest that histone modifications are the relevant mechanisms by which epigenetic modulation of transgene expression cassettes is governed in the early phase of clone generation.