MDC1 methylation mediated by lysine methyltransferases EHMT1 and EHMT2 regulates active ATM accumulation flanking DNA damage sites

Chromatin dynamics mediated by post-translational modifications play a crucial role in cellular response to genotoxic stress for the maintenance of genome integrity. MDC1 is a pivotal chromatin adaptor in DNA damage response (DDR) and its methylation is essential to recruit repair factors at DNA double-strand break (DSB) sites, yet their precise molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Here we identified euchromatic histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 1 (EHMT1) and EHMT2 as novel regulators of MDC1, which is required for the accumulation of DDR factors e.g. 53BP1 and RAP80, at the DSB sites. MDC1 interacts mainly with EHMT1, which is facilitated by DNA damage-initiated ATM signalling, and EHMT2 dominantly modulates methylation of MDC1 lysine 45. This regulatory modification promotes the interaction between MDC1 and ATM to expand activated ATM on damaged chromatin and dysfunctional telomere. These findings identify EHMT1 and EHMT2 as DDR components, with implications for genome-integrity maintenance through proper dynamic methylation of MDC1.