Abstract 4400: Transcriptional dysregulation of chromosomes localized into the micronucleus

Abstract Chromosomal Instability (CIN) is a characteristic of the most aggressive and drug-resistant cancers. Chromosomally unstable cells form micronuclei (MN), a structure with an unstable nuclear membrane that spontaneously surrounds missegregating chromosomes upon mitotic exit. Several studies have demonstrated that CIN drives drug resistance and metastasis through the karyotypic diversity caused by copy number alterations. Beyond facilitating karyotypic diversity, CIN has recently been demonstrated to cause durable epigenetic alterations including reduction of the activating histone H3K27ac mark in chromosomes localized to micronuclei. This reduction in histone H3K27 acetylation persists after the relocalization of the missegregated chromosome to the primary nucleus (PN). Given the loss of transcription-associated epigenetic modifications, we hypothesized that MN would exhibit transcriptional impairment. Indeed, by using nascent RNA assays and immunofluorescence, we found that chromosomes localized into the MN are less transcriptionally active and exhibit lower levels of active RNA polymerase II (RNAP2). Transcriptional inhibitors targeting RNAP2 largely abrogate MN transcription. Conversely, class-specific histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) cause increased hyperacetylation of the MN relative to the PN, which persists beyond MN reincorporation into the PN. We also hypothesized that transcription in MN depends on the manner of MN biogenesis. Preliminary data shows that MN formed from breakage-fusion-bridge (BFB) events may cause less transcriptionally active MN than ones generated from treatment with the MPS1 inhibitor, reversine. To better understand the mechanisms that regulate transcription in the MN, our ongoing work is focused on an unbiased investigation of the micronuclear transcriptome. Citation Format: Danguole Norkunaite, Duaa Al-Rawi, Samuel Bakhoum. Transcriptional dysregulation of chromosomes localized into the micronucleus abstract. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts) ; 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84 (6Suppl): Abstract nr 4400.