scholarly journals Quantifying the binding between proteins and open chromatin-like DNA sequences with gold nanorods

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (100) ◽  
pp. 15041-15044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger M. Pallares ◽  
Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh ◽  
Xiaodi Su

We developed a gold nanorod-based colorimetric assay for the binding of transcription factors to DNA in long open chromatin-like structures. After determining of the binding affinity and stoichiometry, we explored the effect of the probe length on the assay performance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohith Manjunath ◽  
Jialu Yan ◽  
Yeoan Youn ◽  
Kristen L Drucker ◽  
Thomas M Kollmeyer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have implicated thousands of germline genetic variants in modulating individuals’ risk to various diseases, including cancer. At least 25 risk loci have been identified for low-grade gliomas (LGGs), but their molecular functions remain largely unknown. Methods We hypothesized that GWAS loci contain causal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that reside in accessible open chromatin regions and modulate the expression of target genes by perturbing the binding affinity of transcription factors (TFs). We performed an integrative analysis of genomic and epigenomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas and other public repositories to identify candidate causal SNPs within linkage disequilibrium blocks of LGG GWAS loci. We assessed their potential regulatory role via in silico TF binding sequence perturbations, convolutional neural network trained on TF binding data, and simulated annealing–based interpretation methods. Results We built an interactive website (http://education.knoweng.org/alg3/) summarizing the functional footprinting of 280 variants in 25 LGG GWAS regions, providing rich information for further computational and experimental scrutiny. We identified as case studies PHLDB1 and SLC25A26 as candidate target genes of rs12803321 and rs11706832, respectively, and predicted the GWAS variant rs648044 to be the causal SNP modulating ZBTB16, a known tumor suppressor in multiple cancers. We showed that rs648044 likely perturbed the binding affinity of the TF MAFF, as supported by RNA interference and in vitro MAFF binding experiments. Conclusions The identified candidate (causal SNP, target gene, TF) triplets and the accompanying resource will help accelerate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying genetic risk factors for gliomas.



2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Zhang ◽  
Hong-Wen Deng ◽  
Hui Shen ◽  
Melanie Ehrlich

AbstractGenetic risk factors for osteoporosis, a prevalent disease associated with aging, have been examined in many genome-wide association studies (GWAS). A major challenge is to prioritize transcription-regulatory GWAS-derived variants that are likely to be functional. Given the critical role of epigenetics in gene regulation, we have used an unusual epigenetics- and transcription-based approach to identify credible regulatory SNPs relevant to osteoporosis from 38 reported BMD GWAS. Using Roadmap databases, we prioritized SNPs based upon their overlap with strong enhancer or promoter chromatin preferentially in osteoblasts relative to 11 heterologous cell culture types. The selected SNPs also had to overlap open chromatin (DNaseI-hypersensitive sites) and DNA sequences predicted to bind to osteoblast-relevant transcription factors in an allele-specific manner. From >50,000 GWAS-derived SNPs, we identified 16 novel and credible regulatory SNPs (Tier-1 SNPs) for osteoporosis risk. Their associated genes, BICC1, LGR4, DAAM2, NPR3, or HMGA2, are involved in osteoblastogenesis or bone homeostasis and regulate cell signaling or enhancer function. Four of them are preferentially expressed in osteoblasts. BICC1, LGR4, and DAAM2 play important roles in canonical Wnt signaling, a pathway critical to bone formation and repair. The transcription factors that are predicted to bind to the Tier-1 SNP-containing DNA sequences also have bone-related functions. For the seven Tier-1 SNPs near the 5’ end of BICC1, examination of eQTL overlap and the distribution of BMD-increasing alleles suggests that at least one SNP in each of two clusters contributes to inherited osteoporosis risk. Our study not only illustrates a method that can be used to identify novel BMD-related causal regulatory SNPs for future study, but also reveals evidence that some of the Tier-1 SNPs exert their effects on BMD risk indirectly through little-studied noncoding RNA genes, which in turn may control the nearby bone-related protein-encoding gene.



2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Corina Samoila ◽  
Alfa Xenia Lupea ◽  
Andrei Anghel ◽  
Marilena Motoc ◽  
Gabriela Otiman ◽  
...  

Denaturing High Performance Liquid Chromatography (DHPLC) is a relatively new method used for screening DNA sequences, characterized by high capacity to detect mutations/polymorphisms. This study is focused on the Transgenomic WAVETM DNA Fragment Analysis (based on DHPLC separation method) of a 485 bp fragment from human EC-SOD gene promoter in order to detect single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) associated with atherosclerosis and risk factors of cardiovascular disease. The fragment of interest was amplified by PCR reaction and analyzed by DHPLC in 100 healthy subjects and 70 patients characterized by atheroma. No different melting profiles were detected for the analyzed DNA samples. A combination of computational methods was used to predict putative transcription factors in the fragment of interest. Several putative transcription factors binding sites from the Ets-1 oncogene family: ETS member Elk-1, polyomavirus enhancer activator-3 (PEA3), protein C-Ets-1 (Ets-1), GABP: GA binding protein (GABP), Spi-1 and Spi-B/PU.1 related transcription factors, from the Krueppel-like family: Gut-enriched Krueppel-like factor (GKLF), Erythroid Krueppel-like factor (EKLF), Basic Krueppel-like factor (BKLF), GC box and myeloid zinc finger protein MZF-1 were identified in the evolutionary conserved regions. The bioinformatics results need to be investigated further in others studies by experimental approaches.



2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Macías ◽  
Raquel Afonso-Lehmann ◽  
Patricia E. Carreira ◽  
M. Carmen Thomas

Abstract Background Trypanosomatid genomes are colonized by active and inactive mobile DNA elements, such as LINE, SINE-like, SIDER and DIRE retrotransposons. These elements all share a 77-nucleotide-long sequence at their 5′ ends, known as Pr77, which activates transcription, thereby generating abundant unspliced and translatable transcripts. However, transcription factors that mediates this process have still not been reported. Methods TATA-binding protein (TBP) and small nuclear RNA-activating protein 50 kDa (SNAP50) recombinant proteins and specific antibodies raised against them were generated. Protein capture assay, electrophoretic mobility-shift assays (EMSA) and EMSA competition assays carried out using these proteins and nuclear proteins of the parasite together to specific DNA sequences used as probes allowed detecting direct interaction of these transcription factors to Pr77 sequence. Results This study identified TBP and SNAP50 as part of the DNA-protein complex formed by the Pr77 promoter sequence and nuclear proteins of Trypanosoma cruzi. TBP establishes direct and specific contact with the Pr77 sequence, where the DPE and DPE downstream regions are docking sites with preferential binding. TBP binds cooperatively (Hill coefficient = 1.67) to Pr77 and to both strands of the Pr77 sequence, while the conformation of this highly structured sequence is not involved in TBP binding. Direct binding of SNAP50 to the Pr77 sequence is weak and may be mediated by protein–protein interactions through other trypanosomatid nuclear proteins. Conclusions Identification of the transcription factors that mediate Pr77 transcription may help to elucidate how these retrotransposons are mobilized within the trypanosomatid genomes and their roles in gene regulation processes in this human parasite. Graphic abstract



2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Lago ◽  
Matteo Nadai ◽  
Filippo M. Cernilogar ◽  
Maryam Kazerani ◽  
Helena Domíniguez Moreno ◽  
...  

AbstractCell identity is maintained by activation of cell-specific gene programs, regulated by epigenetic marks, transcription factors and chromatin organization. DNA G-quadruplex (G4)-folded regions in cells were reported to be associated with either increased or decreased transcriptional activity. By G4-ChIP-seq/RNA-seq analysis on liposarcoma cells we confirmed that G4s in promoters are invariably associated with high transcription levels in open chromatin. Comparing G4 presence, location and transcript levels in liposarcoma cells to available data on keratinocytes, we showed that the same promoter sequences of the same genes in the two cell lines had different G4-folding state: high transcript levels consistently associated with G4-folding. Transcription factors AP-1 and SP1, whose binding sites were the most significantly represented in G4-folded sequences, coimmunoprecipitated with their G4-folded promoters. Thus, G4s and their associated transcription factors cooperate to determine cell-specific transcriptional programs, making G4s to strongly emerge as new epigenetic regulators of the transcription machinery.



Nanoscale ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 658-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael del Caño ◽  
Jose M. Gisbert-González ◽  
Jose González-Rodríguez ◽  
Guadalupe Sánchez-Obrero ◽  
Rafael Madueño ◽  
...  

The highly packed cetyltrimethylammonium bromide bilayer on the surface of gold nanorods synthesized by the seed-mediated procedure hampers the complete ligand exchange under experimental conditions that preserves the stability of the dispersions.



1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1488-1499 ◽  
Author(s):  
H J Roth ◽  
G C Das ◽  
J Piatigorsky

Expression of the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene was examined. Northern (RNA) blot and primer extension analyses showed that while abundant in the lens, the beta B1 mRNA is absent from the liver, brain, heart, skeletal muscle, and fibroblasts of the chicken embryo, suggesting lens specificity. Promoter fragments ranging from 434 to 126 bp of 5'-flanking sequence (plus 30 bp of exon 1) of the beta B1 gene fused to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene functioned much more efficiently in transfected embryonic chicken lens epithelial cells than in transfected primary muscle fibroblasts or HeLa cells. Transient expression of recombinant plasmids in cultured lens cells, DNase I footprinting, in vitro transcription in a HeLa cell extract, and gel mobility shift assays were used to identify putative functional promoter elements of the beta B1-crystallin gene. Sequence analysis revealed a number of potential regulatory elements between positions -126 and -53 of the beta B1 promoter, including two Sp1 sites, two octamer binding sequence-like sites (OL-1 and OL-2), and two polyomavirus enhancer-like sites (PL-1 and PL-2). Deletion and site-specific mutation experiments established the functional importance of PL-1 (-116 to -102), PL-2 (-90 to -76), and OL-2 (-75 to -68). DNase I footprinting using a lens or a HeLa cell nuclear extract and gel mobility shifts using a lens nuclear extract indicated the presence of putative lens transcription factors binding to these DNA sequences. Competition experiments provided evidence that PL-1 and PL-2 recognize the same or very similar factors, while OL-2 recognizes a different factor. Our data suggest that the same or closely related transcription factors found in many tissues are used for expression of the chicken beta B1-crystallin gene in the lens.



Nanoscale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 2632-2638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordi Morales-Dalmau ◽  
Clara Vilches ◽  
Ignacio de Miguel ◽  
Vanesa Sanz ◽  
Romain Quidant

A systematic study of the influence of gold nanorod morphology on cellular toxicity, uptake and light to heat conversion.



2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 585-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Liu ◽  
Nabendu Pore ◽  
Mijin Kim ◽  
K. Ranh Voong ◽  
Melissa Dowling ◽  
...  

Histone deacetylases mediate critical cellular functions but relatively little is known about mechanisms controlling their expression, including expression of HDAC4, a class II HDAC implicated in the modulation of cellular differentiation and viability. Endogenous HDAC4 mRNA, protein levels and promoter activity were all readily repressed by mithramycin, suggesting regulation by GC-rich DNA sequences. We validated consensus binding sites for Sp1/Sp3 transcription factors in the HDAC4 promoter through truncation studies and targeted mutagenesis. Specific and functional binding by Sp1/Sp3 at these sites was confirmed with chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and electromobility shift assays (EMSA). Cotransfection of either Sp1 or Sp3 with a reporter driven by the HDAC4 promoter led to high activities in SL2 insect cells (which lack endogenous Sp1/Sp3). In human cells, restored expression of Sp1 and Sp3 up-regulated HDAC4 protein levels, whereas levels were decreased by RNA-interference-mediated knockdown of either protein. Finally, variable levels of Sp1 were in concordance with that of HDAC4 in a number of human tissues and cancer cell lines. These studies together characterize for the first time the activity of the HDAC4 promoter, through which Sp1 and Sp3 modulates expression of HDAC4 and which may contribute to tissue or cell-line-specific expression of HDAC4.



Author(s):  
Ruby Sharma ◽  
Shanti P. Gangwar ◽  
Ajay K. Saxena

ERG3 (ETS-related gene) is a member of the ETS (erythroblast transformation-specific) family of transcription factors, which contain a highly conserved DNA-binding domain. The ETS family of transcription factors differ in their binding to promoter DNA sequences, and the mechanism of their DNA-sequence discrimination is little known. In the current study, crystals of the ETSi domain (the ETS domain of ERG3 containing a CID motif) in space group P41212 and of its complex with the E74 DNA sequence (DNA9) in space group C2221 were obtained and their structures were determined. Comparative structure analysis of the ETSi domain and its complex with DNA9 with previously determined structures of the ERGi domain (the ETS domain of ERG containing inhibitory motifs) in space group P65212 and of the ERGi–DNA12 complex in space group P41212 were performed. The ETSi domain is observed as a homodimer in solution as well as in the crystallographic asymmetric unit. Superposition of the structure of the ETSi domain on that of the ERGi domain showed a major conformational change at the C-terminal DNA-binding autoinhibitory (CID) motif, while minor changes are observed in the loop regions of the ETSi-domain structure. The ETSi–DNA9 complex in space group C2221 forms a structure that is quite similar to that of the ERG–DNA12 complex in space group P41212. Upon superposition of the complexes, major conformational changes are observed at the 5′ and 3′ ends of DNA9, while the conformation of the core GGA nucleotides was quite conserved. Comparison of the ETSi–DNA9 structure with known structures of ETS class 1 protein–DNA complexes shows the similarities and differences in the promoter DNA binding and specificity of the class 1 ETS proteins.



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