Dicer interacts with SIRT7 and regulates H3K18 deacetylation in response to DNA damaging agents

Dicer participates in heterochromatin formation in fission yeast and plants. However, whether it has a similar role in mammals remains controversial. Here we showed that the human Dicer protein interacts with SIRT7, an NAD(+)-dependent H3K18Ac (acetylated lysine 18 of histone H3) deacetylase, and holds a proportion of SIRT7 in the cytoplasm. Dicer knockdown led to an increase of chromatin-associated SIRT7 and simultaneously a decrease of cytoplasmic SIRT7, while its overexpression induced SIRT7 reduction in the chromatin-associated fraction and increment in the cytoplasm. Furthermore, DNA damaging agents promoted Dicer expression, leading to decreased level of chromatin-associated SIRT7 and increased level of H3K18Ac, which can be alleviated by Dicer knockdown. Taken together with that H3K18Ac was exclusively associated with the chromatin, our findings suggest that Dicer induction by DNA damaging treatments prevents H3K18Ac deacetylation, probably by trapping more SIRT7 in the cytoplasm.