Histone deacetylase 3 deletion in the embryonic heart at day E9.5

Analysis of whole hearts from e9.5 embryos from Nkx2.5Cre; Hdac3f/f embryos and littermate controls. Results provide insight into gene programs regulated by Hdac3 in cardiac development. Progenitor cells require coordinated expression of lineage-specific genes to regulate differentiation into daughter cell types. Epigenetic regulators are ideally positioned to synchronize transcription of disparate genomic loci. Using cardiac development to model progenitor cell behavior, we demonstrate that Histone deacetylase 3 (Hdac3) functions in a deacetylase-independent manner to repress cardiac differentiation. Loss of Hdac3 promotes differentiation into cardiomyocytes by de-repressing a myocyte gene program. 4 biological replicates of mutant vs 4 biological replicates of wild-type E9.5 microdissected hearts (3 pooled hearts per biological replicate)