scholarly journals START domain mediates Arabidopsis GLABRA2 transcription factor dimerization and turnover independently of homeodomain DNA binding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thiya Mukherjee ◽  
Bibek Subedi ◽  
Aashima Khosla ◽  
Adara L Warner ◽  
Ruben Lerma-Reyes ◽  
...  

Class IV homeodomain leucine-zipper transcription factors (HD-Zip IV TFs) are key regulators of epidermal differentiation that are characterized by a DNA-binding homeodomain (HD) in conjunction with lipid sensor domain termed START (Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory (StAR)-related lipid Transfer). Previous work demonstrated that the START domain of GLABRA2 (GL2), a HD-Zip IV member from Arabidopsis, is required for transcription factor activity. Here, we address the functions and possible interactions of START and the HD in DNA binding, dimerization, and protein turnover. Deletion analysis of the HD and missense mutations of a conserved lysine (K146) result in phenotypic defects in leaf trichomes, root hairs and seed mucilage, similar to those observed for START mutants, despite nuclear localization of the mutant proteins. Gel shift and ChIP-seq experiments demonstrate that while HD mutations impair binding to target DNA, the START domain is dispensable for DNA binding. Vice versa, yeast two-hybrid assays reveal impaired GL2 dimerization for START domain mutants, but not HD mutants. Using in vivo cycloheximide chase experiments, we provide evidence for the role of START, but not HD, in maintaining protein stability. This work advances our fundamental understanding of HD-Zip TFs as multidomain regulators of epidermal development in plants.

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (7) ◽  
pp. 3856-3875
Author(s):  
Marina Kulik ◽  
Melissa Bothe ◽  
Gözde Kibar ◽  
Alisa Fuchs ◽  
Stefanie Schöne ◽  
...  

Abstract The glucocorticoid (GR) and androgen (AR) receptors execute unique functions in vivo, yet have nearly identical DNA binding specificities. To identify mechanisms that facilitate functional diversification among these transcription factor paralogs, we studied them in an equivalent cellular context. Analysis of chromatin and sequence suggest that divergent binding, and corresponding gene regulation, are driven by different abilities of AR and GR to interact with relatively inaccessible chromatin. Divergent genomic binding patterns can also be the result of subtle differences in DNA binding preference between AR and GR. Furthermore, the sequence composition of large regions (>10 kb) surrounding selectively occupied binding sites differs significantly, indicating a role for the sequence environment in guiding AR and GR to distinct binding sites. The comparison of binding sites that are shared shows that the specificity paradox can also be resolved by differences in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding. Specifically, shared binding sites display receptor-specific enhancer activity, cofactor recruitment and changes in histone modifications. Genomic deletion of shared binding sites demonstrates their contribution to directing receptor-specific gene regulation. Together, these data suggest that differences in genomic occupancy as well as divergence in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding direct functional diversification among transcription factor paralogs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keisuke Sasaki ◽  
Yuuki Ida ◽  
Sakihito Kitajima ◽  
Tetsu Kawazu ◽  
Takashi Hibino ◽  
...  

Abstract Alteration in the leaf mesophyll anatomy by genetic modification is potentially a promising tool for improving the physiological functions of trees by improving leaf photosynthesis. Homeodomain leucine zipper (HD-Zip) transcription factors are candidates for anatomical alterations of leaves through modification of cell multiplication, differentiation, and expansion. Full-length cDNA encoding a Eucalyptus camaldulensis HD-Zip class II transcription factor (EcHB1) was over-expressed in vivo in the hybrid Eucalyptus GUT5 generated from Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus urophylla. Overexpression of EcHB1 induced significant modification in the mesophyll anatomy of Eucalyptus with enhancements in the number of cells and chloroplasts on a leaf-area basis. The leaf-area-based photosynthesis of Eucalyptus was improved in the EcHB1-overexpression lines, which was due to both enhanced CO2 diffusion into chloroplasts and increased photosynthetic biochemical functions through increased number of chloroplasts per unit leaf area. Additionally, overexpression of EcHB1 suppressed defoliation and thus improved the growth of Eucalyptus trees under drought stress, which was a result of reduced water loss from trees due to the reduction in leaf area with no changes in stomatal morphology. These results gave us new insights into the role of the HD-Zip II gene.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 7589-7599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Ubeda ◽  
Mario Vallejo ◽  
Joel F. Habener

ABSTRACT The transcription factor CHOP (C/EBP homologous protein 10) is a bZIP protein induced by a variety of stimuli that evoke cellular stress responses and has been shown to arrest cell growth and to promote programmed cell death. CHOP cannot form homodimers but forms stable heterodimers with the C/EBP family of activating transcription factors. Although initially characterized as a dominant negative inhibitor of C/EBPs in the activation of gene transcription, CHOP-C/EBP can activate certain target genes. Here we show that CHOP interacts with members of the immediate-early response, growth-promoting AP-1 transcription factor family, JunD, c-Jun, and c-Fos, to activate promoter elements in the somatostatin, JunD, and collagenase genes. The leucine zipper dimerization domain is required for interactions with AP-1 proteins and transactivation of transcription. Analyses by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and by an in vivo mammalian two-hybrid system for protein-protein interactions indicate that CHOP interacts with AP-1 proteins inside cells and suggest that it is recruited to the AP-1 complex by a tethering mechanism rather than by direct binding of DNA. Thus, CHOP not only is a negative or a positive regulator of C/EBP target genes but also, when tethered to AP-1 factors, can activate AP-1 target genes. These findings establish the existence of a new mechanism by which CHOP regulates gene expression when cells are exposed to cellular stress.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4723-4733
Author(s):  
L A Chodosh ◽  
R W Carthew ◽  
P A Sharp

A simple approach has been developed for the unambiguous identification and purification of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins solely on the basis of their ability to bind selectively to their target sequences. Four independent methods were used to identify the promoter-specific RNA polymerase II transcription factor MLTF as a 46-kilodalton (kDa) polypeptide. First, a 46-kDa protein was specifically cross-linked by UV irradiation to a body-labeled DNA fragment containing the MLTF binding site. Second, MLTF sedimented through glycerol gradients at a rate corresponding to a protein of native molecular weight 45,000 to 50,000. Third, a 46-kDa protein was specifically retained on a biotin-streptavidin matrix only when the DNA fragment coupled to the matrix contained the MLTF binding site. Finally, proteins from the most highly purified fraction which were eluted and renatured from the 44- to 48-kDa region of a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel exhibited both binding and transcription-stimulatory activities. The DNA-binding activity was purified 100,000-fold by chromatography through three conventional columns plus a DNA affinity column. Purified MLTF was characterized with respect to the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of DNA binding. These parameters indicate a high degree of occupancy of MLTF binding sites in vivo.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungeui Hong ◽  
Nathan Brandt ◽  
Ally Yang ◽  
Tim Hughes ◽  
David Gresham

Understanding the molecular basis of gene expression evolution is a central problem in evolutionary biology. However, connecting changes in gene expression to increased fitness, and identifying the functional basis of those changes, remains challenging. To study adaptive evolution of gene expression in real time, we performed long term experimental evolution (LTEE) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (budding yeast) in ammonium-limited chemostats. Following several hundred generations of continuous selection we found significant divergence of nitrogen-responsive gene expression in lineages with increased fitness. In multiple independent lineages we found repeated selection for non-synonymous mutations in the zinc finger DNA binding domain of the activating transcription factor (TF), GAT1, that operates within incoherent feedforward loops to control expression of the nitrogen catabolite repression (NCR) regulon. Missense mutations in the DNA binding domain of GAT1 reduce its binding affinity for the GATAA consensus sequence in a promoter-specific manner, resulting in increased expression of ammonium permease genes via both direct and indirect effects, thereby conferring increased fitness. We find that altered transcriptional output of the NCR regulon results in antagonistic pleiotropy in alternate environments and that the DNA binding domain of GAT1 is subject to purifying selection in natural populations. Our study shows that adaptive evolution of gene expression can entail tuning expression output by quantitative changes in TF binding affinities while maintaining the overall topology of a gene regulatory network.


Genetics ◽  
1991 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
D N Arvidson ◽  
M Shapiro ◽  
P Youderian

Abstract The Escherichia coli trpR gene encodes tryptophan aporepressor, which binds the corepressor ligand, L-tryptophan, to form an active repressor complex. The side chain of residue valine 58 of Trp aporepressor sits at the bottom of the corepressor (L-tryptophan) binding pocket. Mutant trpR genes encoding changes of Val58 to the other 19 naturally occurring amino acids were made. Each of the mutant proteins requires a higher intracellular concentration of tryptophan for activation of DNA binding than wild-type aporepressor. Whereas wild-type aporepressor is activated better by 5-methyltryptophan (5-MT) than by tryptophan, Ile58 and other mutant aporepressors prefer tryptophan to 5-MT as corepressor, and Ala58 and Gly58 prefer 5-MT much more strongly than wild-type aporepressor in vivo. These mutant aporepressors are the first examples of DNA-binding proteins with altered specificities of cofactor recognition.


1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5670-5677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ossama Abu Hatoum ◽  
Shlomit Gross-Mesilaty ◽  
Kristin Breitschopf ◽  
Aviad Hoffman ◽  
Hedva Gonen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT MyoD is a tissue-specific transcriptional activator that acts as a master switch for skeletal muscle differentiation. Its activity is induced during the transition from proliferating, nondifferentiated myoblasts to resting, well-differentiated myotubes. Like many other transcriptional regulators, it is a short-lived protein; however, the targeting proteolytic pathway and the underlying regulatory mechanisms involved in the process have remained obscure. It has recently been shown that many short-lived regulatory proteins are degraded by the ubiquitin system. Degradation of a protein by the ubiquitin system proceeds via two distinct and successive steps, conjugation of multiple molecules of ubiquitin to the target protein and degradation of the tagged substrate by the 26S proteasome. Here we show that MyoD is degraded by the ubiquitin system both in vivo and in vitro. In intact cells, the degradation is inhibited by lactacystin, a specific inhibitor of the 26S proteasome. Inhibition is accompanied by accumulation of high-molecular-mass MyoD-ubiquitin conjugates. In a cell-free system, the proteolytic process requires both ATP and ubiquitin and, like the in vivo process, is preceded by formation of ubiquitin conjugates of the transcription factor. Interestingly, the process is inhibited by the specific DNA sequence to which MyoD binds: conjugation and degradation of a MyoD mutant protein which lacks the DNA-binding domain are not inhibited. The inhibitory effect of the DNA requires the formation of a complex between the DNA and the MyoD protein. Id1, which inhibits the binding of MyoD complexes to DNA, abrogates the effect of DNA on stabilization of the protein.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 3227-3237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuhiro Maki ◽  
Honoka Arai ◽  
Kazuo Waga ◽  
Ko Sasaki ◽  
Fumihiko Nakamura ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT TEL is an ETS family transcription factor that possesses multiple putative mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation sites. We here describe the functional regulation of TEL via ERK pathways. Overexpressed TEL becomes phosphorylated in vivo by activated ERK. TEL is also directly phosphorylated in vitro by ERK. The inducible phosphorylation sites are Ser213 and Ser257. TEL binds to a common docking domain in ERK. In vivo ERK-dependent phosphorylation reduces trans-repressional and DNA-binding abilities of TEL for ETS-binding sites. A mutant carrying substituted glutamates on both Ser213 and Ser257 functionally mimics hyperphosphorylated TEL and also shows a dominant-negative effect on TEL-induced transcriptional suppression. Losing DNA-binding affinity through phosphorylation but heterodimerizing with unmodified TEL could be an underlying mechanism. Moreover, the glutamate mutant dominantly interferes with TEL-induced erythroid differentiation in MEL cells and growth suppression in NIH 3T3 cells. Finally, endogenous TEL is dephosphorylated in parallel with ERK inactivation in differentiating MEL cells and is phosphorylated through ERK activation in Ras-transformed NIH 3T3 cells. These data indicate that TEL is a constituent downstream of ERK in signal transduction systems and is physiologically regulated by ERK in molecular and biological features.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5427-5438 ◽  
Author(s):  
D D Mosser ◽  
J Duchaine ◽  
B Massie

The human heat shock transcription factor (HSF) is maintained in an inactive non-DNA-binding form under nonstress conditions and acquires the ability to bind specifically to the heat shock promoter element in response to elevated temperatures or other conditions that disrupt protein structure. Here we show that constitutive overexpression of the major inducible heat shock protein, hsp70, in transfected human cells reduces the extent of HSF activation after a heat stress. HSF activation was inhibited more strongly in clones that express higher levels of hsp70. These results demonstrate that HSF activity is negatively regulated in vivo by hsp70 and suggest that the cell might sense elevated temperature as a decreased availability of hsp70. HSF activation in response to treatment with sodium arsenite or the proline analog azetidine was also depressed in hsp70-expressing cells relative to that in the nontransfected control cells. As well, the level of activated HSF decreased more rapidly in the hsp70-expressing clones when the cells were heat shocked and returned to 37 degrees C. These results suggest that hsp70 could play an active role in the conversion of HSF back to a conformation that does not bind the heat shock promoter element during the attenuation of the heat shock response.


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