UC Riverside

Arsenic is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant with widespread public health concern. Epidemiological studies have revealed that chronic human exposure to arsenic in drinking water is associated with the prevalence of skin, lung, and bladder cancers. Aberrant histone modifications (e.g., methylation, acetylation, and ubiquitination) were previously found to be accompanied by arsenic exposure; thus, perturbation of epigenetic pathways is thought to contribute to arsenic carcinogenesis. Arsenite is known to interact with zinc finger motifs of proteins, and zinc finger motif is present in and indispensable for the enzymatic activities of crucial histone-modifying enzymes especially the MYST family of histone acetyltransferases (e.g., TIP60). Hence, we reasoned that trivalent arsenic may target the zinc finger motif of these enzymes, disturb their enzymatic activities, and alter histone acetylation. Herein, we found that As3+ could bind directly to the zinc-finger motif of TIP60 in vitro and in cells. In addition, exposure to As3+ could lead to a dose-dependent decrease in TIP60 protein level via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Thus, the results from the present study revealed, for the first time, that arsenite may target cysteine residues in the zinc-finger motif of the TIP60 histone acetyltransferase, thereby altering the H4K16Ac histone epigenetic mark. Our results also shed some new light on the mechanisms underlying the arsenic-induced epigenotoxicity and carcinogenesis in humans.