Xist is a long non-coding RNA that initiates X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) in female mammals. While its central role was well recognized, the complete set of protein partners and chromatin binding sites associated with Xist remained undefined. Chu et al. aimed to systematically map the Xist interactome using CHIRP-based approaches.
- Designed biotinylated antisense tiling probes covering the full Xist RNA.
- Performed formaldehyde crosslinking in intact cells followed by lysis.
- Captured RNA–protein–DNA complexes with streptavidin magnetic beads.
- Applied CHIRP-MS to identify RNA-binding proteins and CHIRP-Seq to profile associated DNA regions.
Identified 81 Xist-binding proteins, including chromatin regulators, nuclear matrix proteins, and RNA processing factors.
Revealed a two-set assembly of proteins: a core module recruited from pluripotency and a second set added during differentiation (Figure 4: heatmap of developmental binding patterns).
Figure 4 – Heatmap of Xist-binding proteins across pluripotent and differentiated states.
Demonstrated that HnrnpK is essential for Xist-mediated silencing. Knockdown impaired repression of the Grb10 gene and reduced deposition of repressive histone modifications (Figure 5: Grb10 silencing; Figure 6: H3K27me3 and H2AK119ub loss).
Figure 5 – Functional analysis of HnrnpK in silencing the Grb10 gene.
Figure 6 – Loss of repressive histone modifications upon HnrnpK depletion.
Showed that the A-repeat region of Xist specifically recruits Spen, a critical silencing factor for establishing transcriptional repression (Figure 7: A-repeat mutant assays).
Figure 7 – Xist A-repeat recruits Spen; deletion disrupts silencing.
This landmark study established CHIRP-MS and CHIRP-Seq as complementary, powerful methods for decoding lncRNA interactomes. For Xist, the results demonstrated that:
- Protein recruitment occurs in a modular and developmentally regulated manner.
- HnrnpK promotes deposition of epigenetic silencing marks.
- Spen is the key effector recruited by the Xist A-repeat for gene silencing.
Together, these findings advanced our mechanistic understanding of XCI and validated CHIRP-based technologies as standard tools for mapping RNA-protein-DNA networks.