Gianluca Pegoraro | PubMed Health

PubMed2025

Chromatin remodeling activity of EP400 safeguards chromosomal stability by preventing CENP-A mislocalization.

The mislocalization of CENP-A to non-centromeric regions contributes to chromosomal instability (CIN). The NuA4 histone acetyltransferase complex members EP400 and KAT5 regulate histone H2A.Z-H2B exchange and acetylation of histones, respectively. Overexpression of CENP-A and mutations in NuA4 components are observed in cancers. Here, we define a role for the chromatin remodeling activity of EP400, a top hit in RNAi screens for increased nuclear levels of CENP-A, in preventing CENP-A mislocalization and CIN. Mechanistically, we demonstrate a defect in the extraction of CENP-A from chromatin in cells expressing the EP400K1085G mutant, which lacks ATPase activity for histone exchange. Consistent with these results, EP400K1085G cells show increased CENP-A enrichment in chromatin and mislocalization to non-centromeric regions. Importantly, EP400K1085G cells exhibit CIN phenotypes in stable, near-diploid RPE1 cells with wild-type p53. In summary, our findings expand the role of EP400 from nucleosome destabilization for histone exchange to preventing the stable association of CENP-A with non-centromeric regions and CIN.

Humans↗

PubMed2025

MetaChrome: An Open-Source, User-Friendly Tool for Automated Metaphase Chromosome Analysis.

DNA Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) is an essential technique to study chromosome biology and genetics, enabling precise visualization of specific genomic loci to study structural abnormalities, gene mapping, and chromosomal rearrangements. High-Throughput Imaging (HTI) can automate the analysis of DNA-FISH chromosome images, but the accurate and automated segmentation of mitotic chromosomes and simultaneous colocalization of FISH signals remains a challenge. While several commercial automated karyotyping tools partially solve these issues, open-source software that effectively combines robust chromosome segmentation with comprehensive colocalization analysis capabilities remains necessary. To address this unmet need, we developed MetaChrome, an open-source software platform built around a graphical user interface and explicitly designed for automated metaphase chromosome analysis. MetaChrome leverages fine-tuned deep learning models to automate metaphase chromosome segmentation, together with colocalization analysis of chromosome-specific FISH probes and immunofluorescent-labeled proteins. Importantly, MetaChrome achieves enhanced segmentation accuracy compared to traditional image processing methods by adopting a Cellpose segmentation model fine-tuned with manually annotated metaphase chromosome datasets. The fine-tuned model ensures precise assignment of DNA-FISH spots to individual chromosomes in an automated manner. This facilitates rapid identification of chromosomal abnormalities, reduces human error, and advances high-throughput chromosome analysis workflows, addressing a key bottleneck in chromosome biology research.

Chromosome segmentation↗