%0 Journal Article
%T The male germ cell gene regulator CTCFL is functionally different from CTCF and binds CTCF-like consensus sites in a nucleosome composition-dependent manner
%A Frank Sleutels
%A Widia Soochit
%A Marek Bartkuhn
%A Helen Heath
%A Sven Dienstbach
%A Philipp Bergmaier
%A Vedran Franke
%A Manuel Rosa-Garrido
%A Suzanne van de Nobelen
%A Lisa Caesar
%A Michael van der Reijden
%A Jan Bryne
%A Wilfred van IJcken
%A J Grootegoed
%A M Delgado
%A Boris Lenhard
%A Rainer Renkawitz
%A Frank Grosveld
%A Niels Galjart
%J Epigenetics & Chromatin
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-8935-5-8
%X Using immunohistochemistry on testis sections and fluorescence-based microscopy on intact live seminiferous tubules, we show that CTCFL is only transiently present during spermatogenesis, prior to the onset of meiosis, when the protein co-localizes in nuclei with ubiquitously expressed CTCF. CTCFL distribution overlaps completely with that of Stra8, a retinoic acid-inducible protein essential for the propagation of meiosis. We find that absence of CTCFL in mice causes sub-fertility because of a partially penetrant testicular atrophy. CTCFL deficiency affects the expression of a number of testis-specific genes, including Gal3st1 and Prss50. Combined, these data indicate that CTCFL has a unique role in spermatogenesis. Genome-wide RNA expression studies in ES cells expressing a V5- and GFP-tagged form of CTCFL show that genes that are downregulated in CTCFL-deficient testis are upregulated in ES cells. These data indicate that CTCFL is a male germ cell gene regulator. Furthermore, genome-wide DNA-binding analysis shows that CTCFL binds a consensus sequence that is very similar to that of CTCF. However, only ~3,700 out of the ~5,700 CTCFL- and ~31,000 CTCF-binding sites overlap. CTCFL binds promoters with loosely assembled nucleosomes, whereas CTCF favors consensus sites surrounded by phased nucleosomes. Finally, an ES cell-based rescue assay shows that CTCFL is functionally different from CTCF.Our data suggest that nucleosome composition specifies the genome-wide binding of CTCFL and CTCF. We propose that the transient expression of CTCFL in spermatogonia and preleptotene spermatocytes serves to occupy a subset of promoters and maintain the expression of male germ cell genes.Three-dimensional folding of the eukaryotic genome occurs in a highly organized manner so as to compact chromatin while allowing temporal and spatial expression of genes. The genome contains regulatory elements, such as promoters, enhancers, locus control regions, insulators and enhancer blockers,
%K CTCF
%K CTCFL
%K Gametogenesis
%K Genome-wide binding
%K Nucleosome
%U http://www.epigeneticsandchromatin.com/content/5/1/8