Fanconi anemia core complex-dependent HES1 mono-ubiquitination regulates its transcriptional activity

OBJECTIVE: The Hairy Enhancer of Split 1 (HES1) is a transcriptional repressor that regulates cellular proliferation and differentiation during development. We previously found an interaction between HES1 and Fanconi anemia (FA) proteins. FA is a hematological and developmental disorder caused by mutations in more than 20 different genes. Eight FA gene products form a nuclear core complex containing E3 ligase activity required for mono-ubiquitination of FANCD2 and FANCI, both of which are FA proteins. Given that HES1 interacts with members of the FA core complex, the aim of this study was to determine whether HES1 is mono-ubiquitinated via the FA core complex. RESULTS: We show that HES1 is mono-ubiquitinated on a highly-conserved lysine residue that is located within a FA-like recognition motif. HES1 modification is dependent on a functional FA complex. Absence of HES1 mono-ubiquitination affects transcriptional repression of its own promoter. This study uncovers a novel post-translational modification of HES1 that regulates its transcriptional activity and suggests that ubiquitination of HES1 occurs in a FA core complex-dependent manner.