EIN2 mediates direct regulation of histone acetylation in the ethylene response

Ethylene gas is essential for developmental processes and stress responses in plants. Although the membrane-bound protein EIN2 is critical for ethylene signaling, the mechanism by which the ethylene signal is transduced remains largely unknown. Here we show the levels of H3K14Ac and H3K23Ac are correlated with the levels of EIN2 protein and demonstrate EIN2 C terminus (EIN2-C) is sufficient to rescue the levels of H3K14/23Ac of ein2-5 at the target loci, using CRISPR/dCas9-EIN2-C. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) and ChIP-reChIP-seq analyses revealed that EIN2-C associates with histone partially through an interaction with EIN2 nuclear-associated protein1 (ENAP1), which preferentially binds to the genome regions that are associated with actively expressed genes both with and without ethylene treatments. Specifically, in the presence of ethylene, ENAP1-binding regions are more accessible upon the interaction with EIN2, and more EIN3 proteins bind to the loci where ENAP1 is enriched for a quick response. Together, these results reveal EIN2-C is the key factor regulating H3K14Ac and H3K23Ac in response to ethylene and uncover a unique mechanism by which ENAP1 interacts with chromatin, potentially preserving the open chromatin regions in the absence of ethylene; in the presence of ethylene, EIN2 interacts with ENAP1, elevating the levels of H3K14Ac and H3K23Ac, promoting more EIN3 binding to the targets shared with ENAP1 and resulting in a rapid transcriptional regulation.