LSD1 interacts with cMYB to demethylate repressive histone marks and maintains inner ear progenitor identity

During development, multipotent progenitor cells must maintain their identity while retaining the competence to respond to new signalling cues that drive cell fate decisions. This depends on both DNA-bound transcription factors and surrounding histone modifications. Here we identify the histone demethylase Lsd1 as a crucial component of the molecular machinery that preserves progenitor identity in the developing ear prior to lineage commitment. While Lsd1 is mainly associated with repressive complexes, we show that in ear precursors it is required to maintain active transcription of otic genes. We reveal a novel interaction between Lsd1 and the transcription factor cMyb, which in turn recruits Lsd1 to the promoters of key ear transcription factors. Here, Lsd1 prevents the accumulation of repressive H3K9me2 while allowing H3K9 acetylation. Loss of Lsd1 function causes rapid silencing of active promoters, loss of ear progenitor genes and shuts down the entire ear developmental programme. Our data suggest that Lsd1-cMyb acts as a coactivator complex that maintains a regulatory module at the top of the inner ear gene network.