Gene expresion changes following knockdown of KDM4C in primary fibroblasts

Epigenetic and genetic regulations are sometimes considered as separate mechanisms that influence gene expression and phenotypes. However, there are DNA sequence variants in epigenetic regulators that could affect gene regulation. The histone demethylase, KDM4C, promotes transcriptional activation by removing the repressive histone mark, tri-methylation of lysine 9 of histone H3 (H3K9me3), from its target genes. In this study, we uncovered cis-acting DNA sequence variants in KDM4C that contribute to individual differences in its expression. Utilizing this natural variation, we performed genetic analyses in B-cells in order to identify target genes that are regulated by KDM4C. We used microarrays to investigate gene expression changes in the target genes from our genetic analyses following knockdown of KDM4C in primary fibroblasts. Primary fibroblasts with stable expression of shRNA targeting KDM4C or a control construct were selected for RNA extraction and hybridization to Affymetrix microarrays. Following selection for stable expression of the shRNA constructs we selected clones expressing 3 non-overlapping constructs targeting KDM4C (shKDM4C) and 2 clones expressing the control construct (shCtr) for analysis by microarray.