First published online 21 January 2009
doi: 10.1242/dev.025569
Development 136, 729-738 (2009)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2009
The non-methylated DNA-binding function of Kaiso is not required in early Xenopus laevis development
Alexey Ruzov1,*,
Ekaterina Savitskaya2,*,
Jamie A. Hackett1,
James P. Reddington1,
Anna Prokhortchouk2,
Monika J. Madej1,
Nikolai Chekanov2,
Minghui Li3,
Donncha S. Dunican1,
Egor Prokhortchouk2,
Sari Pennings4 and
Richard R. Meehan1,
1 Human Genetics Unit, MRC, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh EH4 2XU,
UK.
2 Center `Bioengineering', 60-let Oktyabrya 7-1, Moscow, 117312, Russian
Federation.
3 Shanghai Biochip Company, No.151 Libing Road, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong,
Shanghai, 201203, China.
4 Queen's Medical Research Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH16
4TJ, UK.

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Fig. 1. The methyl-CpG binding activity of Kaiso is confined to ZF1 and 2.
(A) Alignment of the zinc-finger domains of Gallus, Xenopus,
mouse and Danio Kaiso proteins. The regions required for
Hmat-dependent binding (solid line) and methyl-CpG-specific binding (dotted
line) according to our results are compared with the previously published
DNA-binding motif (dashed line) (Daniel et
al., 2002 ). (B) SDS-PAGE showing the indicated purified
6xHis-tag ZF1-3 fusion proteins (arrow) used in the EMSAs. Size markers are on
the left. (C) EMSA experiment with the indicated purified ZF1-3
proteins of xKaiso, dKaiso and gKaiso with methylated Sm, non-methylated S or
human matrilysin (Hmat) probes in the presence of 2 µg pdIC competitor.
Arrow indicates the Kaiso ZF-specific band shift. (D) EMSA using
GST-ZF12 (xKZF12, gKZF12) and GST-ZF23 (xKZF23, gKZF23) deletion constructs
from xKaiso and gKaiso, respectively, with Sm and Hmat oligos. xKaiso and
gKaiso ZF domains (KZF123) were used with Sm probe as positive controls.
(E) EMSA using eukaryotically expressed and affinity-purified
full-length Xenopus (xKaisoFL) and Danio (dKaisoFL) Kaiso
proteins with Sm (1), S (2), Hmat (3) and CTGCNA-containing probes from the
promoter regions of Siamois (4) and xWnt11 (5).
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Fig. 2. Danio rerio Kaiso is a methyl-CpG-dependent repressor that is
necessary for zebrafish development. (A) Methyl-CpG-dependent
repression by dKaiso in a transient transfection assay. Kaiso expression
constructs were co-transfected with a methylated SV40-luciferase reporter into
mouse cells that are compromised in methyl-CpG-dependent transcriptional
repression (Kaiso/Mecp2/Mbd2-/-). The methylated
SV40-luciferase reporter is repressed in the presence of dKaiso. The relative
percentage (methylated reporter expression/nonmethylated reporter expression)
is the average of at least three experiments. Human Kaiso (hKaiso) and xKaiso
expression constructs were used as positive controls for methyl-CpG-dependent
transcriptional repression. (B) The phenoptypes of KMO-injected
zebrafish embryos compared to control embryos 24 hours after fertilisation.
Lower panel is an FITC image of the upper panel and shows that the severity of
phenotypical defects correlates with the amount of injected
fluorescein-labelled morpholino. (C) The percentages of normal embryos,
embryos dead at 24 hours of development and embryos with strong (non-viable)
and medium developmental abnormalities at 48 hours after fertilisation are
shown for non-injected (n=259), standard control MO (Std Ctrl MO,
n=62) and dKMO (n=182) embryos. (D) The microcephaly
phenotype of dKMO morphants at 24 hours post-fertilisation (left panel) can be
rescued by xKaiso mRNA (middle panel). A control (CMO-injected) embryo (right
panel) at the same stage is shown for comparison.
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Fig. 3. xKaiso has no specific affinity for CTGCNA-binding sites in the
Siamois and xWnt 11 promoters. (A) EMSA
experiment with the indicated purified 6xHis-ZF1-3 proteins dKaiso and gKaiso
with methylated Sm probe and CTGCNA-containing probes derived from the
promoter regions of Siamois (Siam) and xWnt11 (Wnt) in the presence of 2 µg
pdIC competitor (B) Same experiment as in A but with xKaiso. (C)
Competition experiment with 6xHis-ZF1-3 xKaiso protein under standard EMSA
conditions with the Sm probe but with 200-fold excess of the following cold
competitors: S, Sm, Siamois, xWnt11 and Hmat. Notice only the Sm and Hmat
probes compete effectively. The last lane is a super-shift experiment in which
an anti-His-tag antibody is included that shifts the 6xHis-Kaiso-specific
complex. (D) Competition experiment as in C, with increasing amounts of
cold competitors (2x, 20x and 200x). The signal
quantification using AIDA software is shown below. Note that the Hmat oligo
competes at least 10 times less efficiently than Sm. (E) EMSA with
purified GST fusions of ZF1-3 domains of xKaiso with labelled Hmat, Siamois,
xWnt11 and (non-CTGCNA) TCF3-binding site (TCFbs) probes. A fixed amount of
protein and the indicated decreasing amount of pdIC competitor was used.
Arrows indicate the shifted complex for each probe.
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Fig. 4. Kaiso preferentially interacts with methylated CpGs but not with CTGCNA
sequences in vivo. (A-D) The results of genome-wide ChIP/sequencing
experiments in HEK293 transiently transfected with mouse Kaiso (mKaiso) and
HA-tagged Danio Kaiso (dKaiso-HA). The ChIPs were performed using
anti-mKaisoZF or anti-HA-tag antibodies with additional controls using
preimmune serum (control for mKaiso ChIP) or anti-HA-tag antibody on
non-transfected cells (control for dKaiso-HA experiment). The DNA obtained in
the ChIP was amplified and 454 sequenced. After initial data filtering all the
remaining sequences were mapped on to the human genome, susbsequently 1 kb
regions in the vicinity of the ChIP sequences were analysed for the presence
of either CpG-rich regions or CTGCNA sites. The ChIP sequences for both the
mKaiso and dKaiso-HA experiments were enriched in CpG-rich regions in
comparison to either to preimmune serum or anti-HA-tag antibody on
non-transfected cells, respectively (A,C), but not in CTGCNA sites (B,D). The
data were normalised with respect to the genome-wide distribution of CpG rich
regions and CTGCNA sites as shown. (E) Diagram indicating the DNA
methylation status of the Oct 91 distal promoter fragment used for ChIP in (F)
in A6 cells. Filled circles represent methylated, and empty circles
non-methylated, CpGs. (F) ChIP experiment using transiently transfected
Xenopus HA-tagged Kaiso (xKaiso) and T7 tagged Danio Kaiso
(dKaiso) on A6 cells. Both xKaiso and dKaiso bind to the heavily methylated
distal region of the Oct91 gene, but do not show any detectable binding to the
Siamois promoter under the same experimental conditions. IgG was used as an
antibody control. 1/10 and 1/50 of inputs are loaded for the Siamois and Oct91
experiments, respectively. (G) The xKaiso ZF domain VP16 fusion (xKZF)
does not activate transcription of a Siamois-driven luciferase reporter
(S01234) but does activate transcription from a methylated Tex19 promoter
(Tex19Me). The xTcf3 HMG domain fusion (xTcf3) activates transcription from
the Siamois reporter 5.5 times. A Siamois luciferase reporter containing
mutated xTcf3-binding sites (S0) and an unmethylated Tex19 promoter reporter
(Tex19Un) were used as controls.
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Fig. 5. dKaiso can rescue Kaiso-depleted Xenopus laevis embryos to the
same extent as its human counterpart. (A) The phenotypes of
uninjected control (n=150), KMO (n=53) and xKMO co-injected
with dKaiso RNA (n=84) embryos (KMO+dKaiso). Development stages are
indicated. FITC image of two pictures are presented as well as an injection
control; arrow indicates neural fold. Notice that even at the later stage (St.
39), when there are reduced numbers of survivors, the xKMO morphants are
arrested whereas the rescued embryos can form complete tadpoles or attenuated
tadpoles that differ in appearance from the xKMO morphant. (B) Bar
graphs showing the percentages of normal embryos and embryos with
developmental defects in the rescue experiments using xKMO co-injected with
dKaiso or human Kaiso (hKaiso) RNA. Dead embryos are not included. The stages
of development are indicated.
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Fig. 6. Inhibition of apoptosis in KMO embryos results in their successful
gastrulation. (A) The presence of a caspase inhibitor, Z-DEVD-FMK,
prevents apoptosis in xKMO morphants and allows development to proceed. The
rescued embryos can complete gastrulation but neurulation is impaired and they
exhibit development delay compared to control embryos. Arrows indicate a
poorly developed neural fold in the rescued xKMO morphant at stage 19. The
rescued xKMO morphants do not show evidence of axis duplication (indicating no
hyper β-catenin activation during gastrulation) at stage 38. In addition
they exhibit developmental delay and axis defects that result from poor
neurulation. Control embryos incubated with Z-DEVD-FMK are phenotypically
normal. (B,C) Phenotypes of embryos co-injected with xKMO
together with an xp53 morpholino (p53MO) are presented at stages 15 and 26.
Uninjected control embryos are also shown (C in figures). Note the completion
of delayed gastrulation in KMO/p53MO embryos (blue arrow points to the
blastopores).
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2009