Sin3a–Tet1 interaction activates gene transcription and is required for embryonic stem cell pluripotency

Sin3a is a core component of histone-deacetylation-activity-associated transcriptional repressor complex, playing important roles in early embryo development. Here, we reported that down-regulation of Sin3a led to the loss of embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and skewed differentiation into mesendoderm lineage. We found that Sin3a functioned as a transcriptional coactivator of the critical Nodal antagonist Lefty1 through interacting with Tet1 to de-methylate the Lefty1 promoter. Further studies showed that two amino acid residues (Phe147, Phe182) in the PAH1 domain of Sin3a are essential for Sin3a-Tet1 interaction and its activity in regulating pluripotency. Furthermore, genome-wide analyses of Sin3a, Tet1 and Pol II ChIP-seq and of 5mC MeDIP-seq revealed that Sin3a acted with Tet1 to facilitate the transcription of a set of their co-target genes. These results link Sin3a to epigenetic DNA modifications in transcriptional activation and have implications for understanding mechanisms underlying versatile functions of Sin3a in mouse ESCs.