Hierarchical Interplay between H3K27ac and H3K4me3 in Transcriptional Regulation

H3K27ac and H3K4me3 are enriched at transcriptional start sites and have been implicated in transcription. However, how these marks concertedly regulate transcription is not fully understood. Here, we developed a dual chemically inducible CRISPR/dCas9-based epigenome editing system that enables independent, temporal and transcription stage-specific modulation of H3K27ac and H3K4me3 at a specific gene locus. Stage-specific removal of H3K4me3 impaired RNA polymerase II recruitment, increased promoter-proximal pausing, reduced productive elongation, and accelerates mRNA decay via increased m6A deposition. Losing both H3K27ac and H3K4me3 rapidly abolished transcriptional activity, while preserving H3K4me3 without H3K27ac can partially sustain transcription. These findings revealed a functional hierarchy and interdependence between H3K27ac and H3K4me3 in different transcription stages and the established versatile tool will contribute to the functional dissection of the temporal dynamics of chromatin modifications in gene regulation.