$$\rightleftharpoonup{xx}$$
$$\longleftharp{xx}$$,
$$\longrightharp{xx}$$,
Spindlin Family Member 4 (SPIN4) is an epigenetic reader and has been recently implicated in overgrowth syndrome, presenting with a constellation of pre- and postnatal overgrowth and tall stature1,2. Spin4 knockout (KO) mice recapitulated the exact human phenotype, supporting the causality. To date, SPIN4 is the only identified exclusive epigenetic reader that negatively regulates bone growth. However, the biochemical properties of SPIN4, a critical epigenetic reader for growth, have not been characterized, leaving a critical knowledge gap in understanding the fundamental, disease-causing mechanisms in this novel developmental disorder. SPIN4 contains three tandem repeats of Tudor domains, which are generally considered methylated arginine or lysine histone reader protein domains3. A SPIN4D82H missense variant has recently been identified in a patient with prenatal and postnatal bone overgrowth syndrome. This mutation affects the first Tudor domain of SPIN4; however, the relevant binding substrates of these Tudor domains remain unclear, limiting functional dissection of SPIN4-dependent regulation of chromatin and gene expression during bone development.
Identification of new histone-binding substrates of reader protein domains does not rely on a single, standardized approach. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histone mostly occur at histone tails that protrude outwards from the core nucleosome particles. The recognition of PTMs on histone tails by reader protein domains is highly variable and often requires multivalent, electrostatic interactions involving nucleosomal DNA, linker DNA, and/or other histone domains to collectively stabilize the reader-target interaction4. Currently, PTMs of histone tail peptides have been constructed in the form of microarrays and commercialized by several vendors5. While histone tail peptide-based PTM screening for binding targets of reader protein domains is high-throughput, it often yields false-positive hits in the absence of nucleosomes. Further, the experimental conditions for such screens are highly empirical and vary from one protein to another, making them technically difficult to address. Synthetic nucleosome-based PTM screening or pulldown provides a much more robust readout, but it is much more costly and low-throughput, since reconstituting nucleosomes carrying variable combinations of PTMs is inherently challenging.
This protocol describes a rapid approach for identifying histone PTMs in nucleosomes as binding targets of SPIN4. Recombinant SPIN4 was reconstituted and screened against a commercial histone PTM peptide array to identify potential binding targets. Native mono-nucleosomes containing diverse endogenous histone PTMs were subsequently generated from live cells. SPIN4 pulldown of mono-nucleosomes enabled antibody-based targeted validation of histone PTMs following the initial screening. This integrated biochemical strategy demonstrates a proof-of-principle approach for time- and cost-efficient target discovery and can be readily applied to identify binding substrates of other poorly characterized epigenetic reader proteins.