PRDM3/16 Regulate Chromatin Accessibility Required for NKX2-1 Mediated Alveolar Epithelial Differentiations and Function [ATAC-seq]

Differential chromatin accessibility accompanies and mediates transcriptional control of diverse cell fates and their differentiation during embryogenesis. While the critical role of NKX2-1 and its transcritional targets in lung morphogenesis and pulmonary epithelial cell differentiation is increasingly known, mechanisms by which chromatin accessibility alters the epigenetic landscape to regulate NKX2-1 activites required for alveolar epithelial cell differentiation and function are not well understood. Herein, we demonstrate that the paird domain zinc finger transcriptional regulators PRDM3 and PRDM16 regulate chromatin accessibility required for NKX2-1 mediated AT1 and AT2 cell differentiation decisions during lung morphogenesis and for control of the induction of AT@ cell gene expression controlling alveolar function and ventilation at birth. PRDM3 and 16 were required for activation of AT2 cell-associated gene expression, enhancing chromatin accessibility at NKX2-1 transcriptional targets. NKX2-1, PRDM3, and PRDM16 bound together at cis-active DNA elements in AT2 and AT1 cell selective transcriptional target genes, including those critical for perinatal AT2 cell differentitaion, surfactant homeostasis, and innate host defense. Deletion of PRDM3/16 inhibited NKX2-1-dependent gene regulatory networks controlling surfactant lipid and protein production, resulting in respiratory failure at birth. NKX2-1-dependent regulation of alveolar epithelial cell differentiation is mediated by PRDM3/16.