In β-actin knockouts, epigenetic reprogramming and rDNA transcription inactivation lead to growth and proliferation defects

Actin and nuclear myosin 1 (NM1) are regulators of transcription and chromatin organization. Using a genome-wide approach, we report here that beta-actin binds intergenic and genic regions across the mammalian genome, associated with both protein-coding and rRNA genes. Within the rDNA, the distribution of beta-actin correlated with NM1 and the other subunits of the B-WICH complex, WSTF and SNF2h. In beta-actin(-/-) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs), we found that rRNA synthesis levels decreased concomitantly with drops in RNA polymerase I (Pol I) and NM1 occupancies across the rRNA gene. Reintroduction of wild-type beta-actin, in contrast to mutated forms with polymerization defects, efficiently rescued rRNA synthesis underscoring the direct role for a polymerization-competent form of beta-actin in Pol I transcription. The rRNA synthesis defects in the beta-actin(-/-) MEFs are a consequence of epigenetic reprogramming with up-regulation of the repressive mark H3K4me1 (mono-methylation of lys4 on histone H3) and enhanced chromatin compaction at promoter-proximal enhancer (T0 sequence), which disturb binding of the transcription factor TTF1. We propose a novel genome-wide mechanism where the polymerase-associated beta-actin synergizes with NM1 to coordinate permissive chromatin with Pol I transcription, cell growth, and proliferation.