Novel roles for KLF1 in erythropoiesis revealed by mRNA-seq

• DOI: 10.1101/gr.135707.111
• Publication Date: 2012-07-27T20:32:14Z
• Authors: Michael R. Tallack; Graham W. Magor; Benjamin Dartigues; Lei Sun; Stephen Huang; Jessica M. Fittock; Sally V. Fry; Evgeny A. Glazov; Timothy L. Bailey; Andrew C. Perkins
• Keywords: Kruppel Like Factor; 2716 Genetics (clinical); 570; Transcription Factor Eklf; Blotting, Western; Kruppel-Like Transcription Factors; Apoptosis; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; 1311 Genetics; Erythroid Cells; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Transcription Factors; In Situ Nick-End Labeling; Animals; Erythropoiesis; GATA1 Transcription Factor; RNA, Messenger; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Mice, Inbred BALB C; 0303 health sciences; Mediated Cleavage; Research; Gene Expression Profiling; Terminal Erythroid Differentiation; Chromosome Mapping; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Cell Differentiation; Liver; Mouse Fetal Erythroblasts; E1A-Associated p300 Protein

KLF1 (formerly known as EKLF) regulates the development of erythroid cells from bi-potent progenitor cells via the transcriptional activation of a diverse set of genes. Mice lacking Klf1 die in utero prior to E15 from severe anemia due to the inadequate expression of genes controlling hemoglobin production, cell membrane and cytoskeletal integrity, and the cell cycle. We have recently described the full repertoire of KLF1 binding sites in vivo by performing KLF1 ChIP-seq in primary erythroid tissue (E14.5 fetal liver). Here we describe the KLF1-dependent erythroid transcriptome by comparing mRNA-seq from Klf1+/+ and Klf1−/− erythroid tissue. This has revealed novel target genes not previously obtainable by traditional microarray technology, and provided novel insights into the function of KLF1 as a transcriptional activator. We define a cis-regulatory module bound by KLF1, GATA1, TAL1, and EP300 that coordinates a core set of erythroid genes. We also describe a novel set of erythroid-specific promoters that drive high-level expression of otherwise ubiquitously expressed genes in erythroid cells. Our study has identified two novel lncRNAs that are dynamically expressed during erythroid differentiation, and discovered a role for KLF1 in directing apoptotic gene expression to drive the terminal stages of erythroid maturation.