scholarly journals Crosstalk in oxygen homeostasis networks: SKN-1/NRF inhibits the HIF-1 hypoxia-inducible factor in Caenorhabditis elegans

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingxia Feng ◽  
Zhiwei Zhai ◽  
Zhiyong Shao ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Jo Anne Powell-Coffman

AbstractDuring development, homeostasis, and disease, organisms must balance responses that allow adaptation to low oxygen (hypoxia) with those that protect cells from oxidative stress. The evolutionarily conserved hypoxia-inducible factors are central to these processes, as they orchestrate transcriptional responses to oxygen deprivation. Here, we employ genetic strategies in C. elegans to identify stress-responsive genes and pathways that modulate the HIF-1 hypoxia-inducible factor and facilitate oxygen homeostasis. Through a genome-wide RNAi screen, we show that RNAi-mediated mitochondrial or proteasomal dysfunction increases the expression of hypoxia-responsive reporter Pnhr-57:GFP in C. elegans. Interestingly, only a subset of these effects requires hif-1. Of particular importance, we found that skn-1 RNAi increases the expression of hypoxia-responsive reporter Pnhr-57:GFP and elevates HIF-1 protein levels. The SKN-1/NRF transcription factor has been shown to promote oxidative stress resistance. We present evidence that the crosstalk between HIF-1 and SKN-1 is mediated by EGL-9, the prolyl hydroxylase that targets HIF-1 for oxygen-dependent degradation. Treatment that induces SKN-1, such as heat, increases expression of a Pegl-9:GFP reporter, and this effect requires skn-1 function and a putative SKN-1 binding site in egl-9 regulatory sequences. Collectively, these data support a model in which SKN-1 promotes egl-9 transcription, thereby inhibiting HIF-1. We propose that this interaction enables animals to adapt quickly to changes in cellular oxygenation and to better survive accompanying oxidative stress.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0249103
Author(s):  
Dingxia Feng ◽  
Zhiwei Zhai ◽  
Zhiyong Shao ◽  
Yi Zhang ◽  
Jo Anne Powell-Coffman

During development, homeostasis, and disease, organisms must balance responses that allow adaptation to low oxygen (hypoxia) with those that protect cells from oxidative stress. The evolutionarily conserved hypoxia-inducible factors are central to these processes, as they orchestrate transcriptional responses to oxygen deprivation. Here, we employ genetic strategies in C. elegans to identify stress-responsive genes and pathways that modulate the HIF-1 hypoxia-inducible factor and facilitate oxygen homeostasis. Through a genome-wide RNAi screen, we show that RNAi-mediated mitochondrial or proteasomal dysfunction increases the expression of hypoxia-responsive reporter Pnhr-57::GFP in C. elegans. Interestingly, only a subset of these effects requires hif-1. Of particular importance, we found that skn-1 RNAi increases the expression of hypoxia-responsive reporter Pnhr-57::GFP and elevates HIF-1 protein levels. The SKN-1/NRF transcription factor has been shown to promote oxidative stress resistance. We present evidence that the crosstalk between HIF-1 and SKN-1 is mediated by EGL-9, the prolyl hydroxylase that targets HIF-1 for oxygen-dependent degradation. Treatment that induces SKN-1, such as heat or gsk-3 RNAi, increases expression of a Pegl-9::GFP reporter, and this effect requires skn-1 function and a putative SKN-1 binding site in egl-9 regulatory sequences. Collectively, these data support a model in which SKN-1 promotes egl-9 transcription, thereby inhibiting HIF-1. We propose that this interaction enables animals to adapt quickly to changes in cellular oxygenation and to better survive accompanying oxidative stress.


2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 212-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark W. Budde ◽  
Mark B. Roth

Rapid alteration of gene expression in response to environmental changes is essential for normal development and behavior. The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1 is well known to respond to alterations in oxygen availability. In nature, low oxygen environments are often found to contain high levels of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). Here, we show that Caenorhabditis elegans can have mutually exclusive responses to H2S and hypoxia, both involving HIF-1. Specifically, H2S results in HIF-1 activity throughout the hypodermis, whereas hypoxia causes HIF-1 activity in the gut as judged by a reporter for HIF-1 activity. C. elegans require hif-1 to survive in room air containing trace amounts of H2S. Exposure to H2S results in HIF-1 nuclear localization and transcription of HIF-1 targets. The effects of H2S on HIF-1 reporter activity are independent of von Hippel–Lindau tumor suppressor (VHL)-1, whereas VHL-1 is required for hypoxic regulation of HIF-1 reporter activity. Because H2S is naturally produced by animal cells, our results suggest that endogenous H2S may influence HIF-1 activity.


mBio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric G. Matson ◽  
Adam Z. Rosenthal ◽  
Xinning Zhang ◽  
Jared R. Leadbetter

ABSTRACTWhen prokaryotic cells acquire mutations, encounter translation-inhibiting substances, or experience adverse environmental conditions that limit their ability to synthesize proteins, transcription can become uncoupled from translation. Such uncoupling is known to suppress transcription of protein-encoding genes in bacteria. Here we show that the trace element selenium controls transcription of the gene for the selenocysteine-utilizing enzyme formate dehydrogenase (fdhFSec) through a translation-coupled mechanism in the termite gut symbiontTreponema primitia, a member of the bacterial phylumSpirochaetes. We also evaluated changes in genome-wide transcriptional patterns caused by selenium limitation and by generally uncoupling translation from transcription via antibiotic-mediated inhibition of protein synthesis. We observed that inhibiting protein synthesis inT. primitiainfluences transcriptional patterns in unexpected ways. In addition to suppressing transcription of certain genes, the expected consequence of inhibiting protein synthesis, we found numerous examples in which transcription of genes and operons is truncated far downstream from putative promoters, is unchanged, or is even stimulated overall. These results indicate that gene regulation in bacteria allows for specific post-initiation transcriptional responses during periods of limited protein synthesis, which may depend both on translational coupling and on unclassified intrinsic elements of protein-encoding genes.IMPORTANCEA large body of literature demonstrates that the coupling of transcription and translation is a general and essential method by which bacteria regulate gene expression levels. However, the potential role of noncanonical amino acids in regulating transcriptional output via translational control remains, for the most part, undefined. Furthermore, the genome-wide transcriptional state in response to translational decoupling is not well quantified. The results presented here suggest that the noncanonical amino acid selenocysteine is able to tune transcription of an important metabolic gene via translational coupling. Furthermore, a genome-wide analysis reveals that transcriptional decoupling produces a wide-ranging effect and that this effect is not uniform. These results exemplify how growth conditions that impact translational processivity can rapidly feed back on transcriptional productivity of prespecified groups of genes, providing bacteria with an efficient response to environmental changes.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (11) ◽  
pp. 918-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinyan Sun ◽  
Peiguo Yang ◽  
Yuxia Zhang ◽  
Xin Bao ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
P Bodies ◽  

2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (11) ◽  
pp. 6610-6619 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. K. Lewinski ◽  
D. Bisgrove ◽  
P. Shinn ◽  
H. Chen ◽  
C. Hoffmann ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We have investigated regulatory sequences in noncoding human DNA that are associated with repression of an integrated human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) promoter. HIV-1 integration results in the formation of precise and homogeneous junctions between viral and host DNA, but integration takes place at many locations. Thus, the variation in HIV-1 gene expression at different integration sites reports the activity of regulatory sequences at nearby chromosomal positions. Negative regulation of HIV transcription is of particular interest because of its association with maintaining HIV in a latent state in cells from infected patients. To identify chromosomal regulators of HIV transcription, we infected Jurkat T cells with an HIV-based vector transducing green fluorescent protein (GFP) and separated cells into populations containing well-expressed (GFP-positive) or poorly expressed (GFP-negative) proviruses. We then determined the chromosomal locations of the two classes by sequencing 971 junctions between viral and cellular DNA. Possible effects of endogenous cellular transcription were characterized by transcriptional profiling. Low-level GFP expression correlated with integration in (i) gene deserts, (ii) centromeric heterochromatin, and (iii) very highly expressed cellular genes. These data provide a genome-wide picture of chromosomal features that repress transcription and suggest models for transcriptional latency in cells from HIV-infected patients.


2006 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guowen Liu ◽  
Julianne Roy ◽  
Eric A. Johnson

Hypoxia, an insufficient level of oxygen in the cell, occurs during normal activity and also in pathological conditions such as ischemia and tumorigenesis. Although many hypoxia-response genes have been identified, an understanding of the functional role for these genes in the living animal is lacking. Here we present a genome-wide study of gene expression changes during hypoxia and then functionally test a subset of these genes for roles in survival and recovery from hypoxia. We found 79 genes with increased mRNA levels when adult flies were treated with 0.5% O2 for 6 h. A subset of these genes had detectably increased levels in as short as 1 h of low-oxygen treatment. Mild hypoxia levels resulted in an increase in transcription levels for only 20 genes. Viability during hypoxia and recovery time from hypoxia-induced paralysis was examined in flies with a reduction in activity in hypoxia-response genes. The observed decreased viability and increased recovery time from paralysis in many of the lines demonstrate that the increased transcript levels seen after hypoxia are important for the response to low oxygen.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garam Kim ◽  
Lisa Nakayama ◽  
Jacob A Blum ◽  
Tetsuya Akiyama ◽  
Steven Boeynaems ◽  
...  

Antisense oligonucleotide therapy targeting ATXN2, a gene in which mutations cause neurodegenerative diseases spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has entered clinical trials in humans. Additional methods to lower ataxin 2 levels would be beneficial not only in uncovering potentially cheaper or less invasive therapies, but also in gaining greater mechanistic insight into how ataxin 2 is normally regulated. We performed a genome-wide fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS)-based CRISPR screen in human cells and identified multiple subunits of the lysosomal vacuolar ATPase (v ATPase) as regulators of ataxin 2 levels. We demonstrate that Etidronate, a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug that inhibits the v ATPase, lowers ataxin 2 protein levels in mouse and human neurons. Moreover, oral administration of the drug to mice in their water supply and food is sufficient to lower ataxin-2 levels in the brain. Thus, we uncover Etidronate as a safe and inexpensive compound for lowering ataxin-2 levels and demonstrate the utility of FACS-based screens for identifying targets to modulate levels of human disease proteins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (15) ◽  
pp. 5191
Author(s):  
Luming Yao ◽  
Biyun Yang ◽  
Xiaohong Ma ◽  
Shuangshuang Wang ◽  
Zhe Guan ◽  
...  

Soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura) is one of the major limiting factors in soybean production. The mechanism of aphid resistance in soybean remains enigmatic as little information is available about the different mechanisms of antibiosis and antixenosis. Here, we used genome-wide gene expression profiling of aphid susceptible, antibiotic, and antixenotic genotypes to investigate the underlying aphid–plant interaction mechanisms. The high expression correlation between infested and non-infested genotypes indicated that the response to aphid was controlled by a small subset of genes. Plant response to aphid infestation was faster in antibiotic genotype and the interaction in antixenotic genotype was moderation. The expression patterns of transcription factor genes in susceptible and antixenotic genotypes clustered together and were distant from those of antibiotic genotypes. Among them APETALA 2/ethylene response factors (AP2/ERF), v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog (MYB), and the transcription factor contained conserved WRKYGQK domain (WRKY) were proposed to play dominant roles. The jasmonic acid-responsive pathway was dominant in aphid–soybean interaction, and salicylic acid pathway played an important role in antibiotic genotype. Callose deposition was more rapid and efficient in antibiotic genotype, while reactive oxygen species were not involved in the response to aphid attack in resistant genotypes. Our study helps to uncover important genes associated with aphid-attack response in soybean genotypes expressing antibiosis and antixenosis.


Genome ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Ian C. Tobias ◽  
Luis E. Abatti ◽  
Sakthi D. Moorthy ◽  
Shanelle Mullany ◽  
Tiegh Taylor ◽  
...  

Enhancers are cis-regulatory sequences located distally to target genes. These sequences consolidate developmental and environmental cues to coordinate gene expression in a tissue-specific manner. Enhancer function and tissue specificity depend on the expressed set of transcription factors, which recognize binding sites and recruit cofactors that regulate local chromatin organization and gene transcription. Unlike other genomic elements, enhancers are challenging to identify because they function independently of orientation, are often distant from their promoters, have poorly defined boundaries, and display no reading frame. In addition, there are no defined genetic or epigenetic features that are unambiguously associated with enhancer activity. Over recent years there have been developments in both empirical assays and computational methods for enhancer prediction. We review genome-wide tools, CRISPR advancements, and high-throughput screening approaches that have improved our ability to both observe and manipulate enhancers in vitro at the level of primary genetic sequences, chromatin states, and spatial interactions. We also highlight contemporary animal models and their importance to enhancer validation. Together, these experimental systems and techniques complement one another and broaden our understanding of enhancer function in development, evolution, and disease.


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