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PIM1-dependent phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine 10 is required for MYC-dependent transcriptional activation and oncogenic transformation

Nature Cell Biology volume 9, pages 932–944 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The serine/threonine kinase human Pim1 (hereafter PIM1) cooperates with human c-Myc (hereafter MYC) in cell cycle progression and tumorigenesis. However, the nature of this cooperation is still unknown. Here we show that, after stimulation with growth factor, PIM1 forms a complex with the dimer of MYC with MAX (Myc-associated factor X) via the MYC BoxII (MBII) domain. MYC recruits PIM1 to the E boxes of the MYC-target genes FOSL1 (FRA-1) and ID2, and PIM1 phosphorylates serine 10 of histone H3 (H3S10) on the nucleosome at the MYC-binding sites, contributing to their transcriptional activation. MYC and PIM1 colocalize at sites of active transcription, and expression profile analysis revealed that PIM1 contributes to the regulation of 20% of the MYC-regulated genes. Moreover, PIM1-dependent H3S10 phosphorylation contributes to MYC transforming capacity. These results establish a new function for PIM1 as a MYC cofactor that phosphorylates the chromatin at MYC-target loci and suggest that nucleosome phosphorylation, at E boxes, contributes to MYC-dependent transcriptional activation and cellular transformation.

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Figure 1: PIM1 phosphorylates H3S10 on the nucleosome.
Figure 2: PIM1 forms a complex with MYC.
Figure 3: PIM1 colocalizes with H3S10ph, active chromatin and MYC.
Figure 4: PIM1 associates with chromatin at the FOSL1 enhancer.
Figure 5: PIM1 mediates H3S10 phosphorylation and contributes to FOSL1 transcription.
Figure 6: PIM1 phosphorylates histone H3 in a MYC-dependent manner.
Figure 7: PIM1 is required for the transcriptional activation of FOSL1 and ID2.
Figure 8: PIM1 contributes to MYC-dependent transformation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the laboratory for reagents, helpful suggestions and encouragement; M. Rocchigiani for VEGF-A preparations, B. Grandi for technical support, M. Bianchi for the YFP–H3 construct, R. Mantovani for Xenopus laevis histone constructs, B. Amati for Rat-1 and P493-6 cells, and I. Delany, M. Bianchi and E. Guccione for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul cancro (AIRC), Ministero Italiano Università e Ricerca (MIUR), and Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

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  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare Università di Siena, Via Fiorentina 1, Siena, 53100, Italy

    Alessio Zippo, Alessandra De Robertis, Riccardo Serafini & Salvatore Oliviero

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  1. Alessio Zippo
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Contributions

A.Z. planned and performed the experiments and analysed the data. A.D.R. generated stable clones and performed immunoprecipitation experiments. R.S. performed the transformation assays. S.O. planned the experimental design, analysed the data and wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Salvatore Oliviero.

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Supplementary Figure S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S8, S9, Table S1, S2 and S3 (PDF 1013 kb)

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Zippo, A., De Robertis, A., Serafini, R. et al. PIM1-dependent phosphorylation of histone H3 at serine 10 is required for MYC-dependent transcriptional activation and oncogenic transformation. Nat Cell Biol 9, 932–944 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1618

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