A role for Widely Interspaced Zinc finger (WIZ) in retention of the G9a methyltransferase on chromatin

G9a and GLP lysine methyltransferases form a heterodimeric complex that is responsible for the bulk of cellular mono- and di-methylation on histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me1/me2). Widely Interspaced Zinc finger (WIZ) associates with the G9a/GLP protein complex, but its role in lysine methylation is poorly defined. Here, we show that WIZ regulates global H3K9me2 levels through a mechanism that involves retention of G9a on chromatin. We also show that WIZ-mediated chromatin loss of G9a/GLP results in altered gene expression and protein-protein interactions that are distinguishable from that of using a molecule-induced enzymatic inhibitor towards G9a/GLP – thus providing evidence that the G9a/GLP/WIZ complex has unique functions when bound to chromatin that are independent of the H3K9me2 mark Overall design: DMSO, UNC0638, NS, and siWIZ treatments to HEK293T cells, assessing G9a and H3K9me2 localization, each performed in duplicate, plus one input control for each cell condition. 30 samples total.