Chromatin modifications that support acetylcholine receptor gene activation are established during muscle cell determination and differentiation.

Localization of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) to the postsynaptic region of muscle is mediated in part by transcriptional mechanisms. An important way of regulating transcription is through targeting histone modifications on chromatin to distinct gene loci. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we examined the developmental regulation of certain histone modifications at the AChR epsilon subunit locus, including methylations at lysine residues K4 and K27 and acetylations at K9 and K14. We modeled various stages of muscle development in cell culture, including pre-determined cells, committed but undifferentiated myoblasts, and differentiated myotubes, and modeled synaptic myotube nuclei by stimulating myotubes with neuregulin (NRG) 1. We found that a pattern of histone modifications associated with transcriptional activation is targeted to the AChR epsilon subunit locus in myotubes prior to stimulation with NRG1 and does not change upon addition of NRG1. Instead, we found that during muscle cell determination and differentiation, specific histone modifications are targeted to the AChR epsilon subunit locus. Within the gene, at K4, dimethylation is induced during muscle cell determination, while trimethylation is induced during differentiation. At K27, loss of trimethylation and appearance of monomethylation occurs during determination and differentiation. In addition, in a region upstream of the gene, K4 di- and trimethylation, and K9/14 acetylation are induced in a distinct developmental pattern, which may reflect a functional regulatory element. These results suggest synaptic signaling does not directly target histone modifications but rather the histone modification pattern necessary for transcriptional activation is previously established in a series of steps during muscle development.