Anti-HAND1 (N-terminal half) monoclonal antibody, clone 5H20.2

Scl/Tal1 confers hemogenic competence and prevents ectopic cardiomyogenesis in embryonic endothelium by unknown mechanisms. We discovered that Scl binds to hematopoietic and cardiac enhancers that become epigenetically primed in multipotent cardiovascular mesoderm, to regulate the divergence of hematopoietic and cardiac lineages. Scl does not act as a pioneer factor but rather exploits a pre-established epigenetic landscape. As the blood lineage emerges, Scl binding and active epigenetic modifications are sustained in hematopoietic enhancers, whereas cardiac enhancers are decommissioned by removal of active epigenetic marks. Our data suggest that, rather than recruiting corepressors to enhancers, Scl prevents ectopic cardiogenesis by occupying enhancers that cardiac factors, such as Gata4 and Hand1, use for gene activation. Although hematopoietic Gata factors bind with Scl to both activated and repressed genes, they are dispensable for cardiac repression, but necessary for activating genes that enable hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell development. These results suggest that a unique subset of enhancers in lineage-specific genes that are accessible for regulators of opposing fates during the time of the fate decision provide a platform where the divergence of mutually exclusive fates is orchestrated.

Alterations in ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) have been implicated in the etiology of human cardiovascular diseases. Skp1/Cul1/F-box (SCF) ubiquitin E3 ligase complex plays a pivotal role in ubiquitination of cardiac proteins. However, a specific ubiquitin E3 ligase responsible for the destruction of cardiac transcription factors such as Nkx2-5, IsI1, Mef2C, and Tbx5 remains elusive to date. Here, we show that a novel F-box containing Fbxo25 is cardiac-specific and acts as an ubiquitin E3 ligase for cardiac transcription factors. Fbxo25 expression was nuclei-specific in vitro and cardiomyocytes. Expression level of Fbxo25 was higher in a fetal heart than an adult. Moreover, Fbxo25 expression was increased along with those of cardiac-specific genes during cardiomyocyte development from ESCs. Fbxo25 expression facilitated protein degradation of Nloc2-5, ISI1, Hand1, and Mef2C. Especially, Fbxo25 ubiquitinated Nkx2-5, IsI1, and Hand1. Altogether, Fbxo25 acts as an ubiquitin E3 ligase to target cardiac transcription factors including Nkx2-5, IsI1, and Hand1, indicating that cardiac protein homeostasis through Fbxo25 has a pivotal impact on cardiac development. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Inc.