Genomic profiling of PML bodies reveals transcriptional regulation by PML bodies through the DNMT3A exclusion

Abstract

The promyelocytic leukaemia (PML) body is a phase-separated nuclear structure involved in various biological processes, including senescence, and tumour suppression1. PML bodies consist of various proteins, including PML proteins and several chromatin regulators2,3 and physically associate with chromatin4,5, implying their crucial roles in particular genome functions. However, their roles in transcriptional regulation are largely unknown. Here, we developed APEX-mediated chromatin labelling and purification (ALaP), to identify the genomic regions associated with PML bodies. We find that PML bodies associate with active regulatory regions across the genome and prominently with a [~]300 kb of the short arm of the Y chromosome (YS300) in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). The association with YS300 is essential for the transcriptional activities of neighbouring Y-linked cluster genes. Mechanistically, we show that PML bodies play a novel role in 3D nuclear organization by providing specific nuclear spaces that the de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A cannot access, which results in the robust maintenance of the hypo-methylated states at the Y-linked gene promoters. Our study underscores a new mechanism for gene regulation in the 3D-nuclear space and provides insights into the functional properties of nuclear structures for genome functions.