MYT1L is required for suppressing earlier neuronal development programs in the adult mouse brain

In vitro studies indicate the neurodevelopmental disorder gene Myelin Transcription Factor 1 Like (MYT1L) suppresses non-neuronal lineage genes during fibroblast-to-neuron direct differentiation. However, MYT1Ls molecular and cellular functions during differentiation in the mammalian brain have not been fully characterized. Here, we found that MYT1L loss leads to up-regulated deep layer (DL) but down-regulated upper layer (UL) neuron gene expression, corresponding to an increased ratio of DL/UL neurons in mouse cortex. To define potential mechanisms, we conducted Cleavage Under Targets & Release Using Nuclease (CUT&RUN) to map MYT1L binding targets in mouse developing cortex and adult prefrontal cortex (PFC), and to map epigenetic changes due to MYT1L mutation. We found MYT1L mainly binds to open chromatin, but with different transcription factor co-occupancies between promoters and enhancers. Likewise, multi-omic dataset integration revealed that, at promoters, MYT1L loss does not change chromatin accessibility but does increase H3K4me3 and H3K27ac, activating both a subset of earlier neuronal development genes as well as Bcl11b, a key regulator for DL neuron development. Meanwhile, we discovered that MYT1L normally represses the activity of neurogenic enhancers associated with neuronal migration and neuronal projection development by closing chromatin structures and promoting removal of active histone marks. Further, we show MYT1L interacts with SIN3B and HDAC2 in vivo, providing potential mechanisms underlying any repressive effects on histone acetylation and gene expression. Overall, our findings provide a comprehensive map of MYT1L binding in vivo and mechanistic insights to how MYT1L facilitates neuronal maturation.