scholarly journals Transcription promotes the interaction of the FAcilitates Chromatin Transactions (FACT) complex with nucleosomes in S. cerevisiae

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J.E. Martin ◽  
Adam T. Chruscicki ◽  
LeAnn J. Howe

ABSTRACTThe FACT (FAcilitates Chromatin Transactions) complex is enriched on highly expressed genes, where it facilitates transcription while maintaining chromatin structure. How it is targeted to these regions is unknown. In vitro, FACT binds destabilized nucleosomes, supporting the hypothesis that FACT is targeted to transcribed chromatin through recognition of RNA polymerase-disrupted nucleosomes. In this study, we used high resolution analysis of FACT occupancy in S. cerevisiae to test this hypothesis. We demonstrate that FACT interacts with unstable nucleosomes in vivo and its interaction with chromatin is dependent on transcription by any of the three RNA polymerases. Deep sequencing of micrococcal nuclease-resistant fragments shows that FACT-bound nucleosomes exhibit differences in micrococcal nuclease sensitivity compared to bulk chromatin, consistent with a modified nucleosome structure being the preferred ligand for this complex. While the presence of altered nucleosomes associated with FACT can also be explained by the known ability of this complex to modulate nucleosome structure, transcription inhibition alleviates this effect indicating that it is not due to FACT interaction alone. Collectively these results suggest that FACT is targeted to transcribed genes through preferential interaction with RNA polymerase disrupted nucleosomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew D Surette ◽  
Nicholas Waglechner ◽  
Kalinka Koteva ◽  
Gerard D Wright

Rifamycin antibiotics such as rifampin are widely used for the management of tuberculosis and other bacterial infections. These drugs inhibit prokaryotic RNA polymerase (RNAP) by preventing elongation of mRNA resulting in cell death. Rifamycin resistance in the clinic is manifested primarily through amino acid substitutions in RNAP that decrease target affinity for the antibiotics. In contrast, environmental bacteria possess a wide variety of highly specific rifamycin enzyme-mediated resistance mechanisms that modify and inactivate the antibiotics by glycosylation, phosphorylation, ADP-ribosylation, or hydroxylation. Expression of rifamycin resistance is controlled by a common 19bp cis-acting rifamycin associated element (RAE) upstream of inactivating genes. Guided by the presence of RAE sequences, we identify an unprecedented ATP-dependent mechanism of rifamycin resistance that acts not by antibiotic inactivation but by protecting the RNAP target. We show that Streptomyces venezuelae encodes a helicase-like protein, HelR, which confers broad spectrum rifamycin resistance. Furthermore, HelR is essential for promoting rifamycin tolerance at inhibitory concentrations, enabling bacterial evasion of the toxic properties of these antibiotics. HelR forms a complex with RNAP in vivo and rescues transcription inhibition by rifampin in vitro. We synthesized a rifamycin photoprobe and demonstrated that HelR directly displaces rifamycins from RNAP. HelR-encoding genes associated with RAEs are broadly distributed in actinobacteria, including many opportunistic Mycobacterial pathogens, which cannot currently be treated with rifamycins. This first report of an RNAP protection protein conferring antibiotic resistance and offers guidance for developing new rifamycin antibiotics that can avoid this mechanism.



2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (15) ◽  
pp. 5237-5246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Van den Abbeele ◽  
Charlotte Grootaert ◽  
Massimo Marzorati ◽  
Sam Possemiers ◽  
Willy Verstraete ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Dynamic, multicompartment in vitro gastrointestinal simulators are often used to monitor gut microbial dynamics and activity. These reactors need to harbor a microbial community that is stable upon inoculation, colon region specific, and relevant to in vivo conditions. Together with the reproducibility of the colonization process, these criteria are often overlooked when the modulatory properties from different treatments are compared. We therefore investigated the microbial colonization process in two identical simulators of the human intestinal microbial ecosystem (SHIME), simultaneously inoculated with the same human fecal microbiota with a high-resolution phylogenetic microarray: the human intestinal tract chip (HITChip). Following inoculation of the in vitro colon compartments, microbial community composition reached steady state after 2 weeks, whereas 3 weeks were required to reach functional stability. This dynamic colonization process was reproducible in both SHIME units and resulted in highly diverse microbial communities which were colon region specific, with the proximal regions harboring saccharolytic microbes (e.g., Bacteroides spp. and Eubacterium spp.) and the distal regions harboring mucin-degrading microbes (e.g., Akkermansia spp.). Importantly, the shift from an in vivo to an in vitro environment resulted in an increased Bacteroidetes/Firmicutes ratio, whereas Clostridium cluster IX (propionate producers) was enriched compared to clusters IV and XIVa (butyrate producers). This was supported by proportionally higher in vitro propionate concentrations. In conclusion, high-resolution analysis of in vitro-cultured gut microbiota offers new insight on the microbial colonization process and indicates the importance of digestive parameters that may be crucial in the development of new in vitro models.



2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Coulombe ◽  
Marie-France Langelier

High resolution X-ray crystal structures of multisubunit RNA polymerases (RNAP) have contributed to our understanding of transcriptional mechanisms. They also provided a powerful guide for the design of experiments aimed at further characterizing the molecular stages of the transcription reaction. Our laboratory used tandem-affinity peptide purification in native conditions to isolate human RNAP II variants that had site-specific mutations in structural elements located strategically within the enzyme's catalytic center. Both in vitro and in vivo analyses of these mutants revealed novel features of the catalytic mechanisms involving this enzyme.Key words: RNA polymerase II, transcriptional mechanisms, mutational analysis, mRNA synthesis.



2001 ◽  
Vol 276 (15) ◽  
pp. 12266-12273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenxiang Wei ◽  
Dorjbal Dorjsuren ◽  
Yong Lin ◽  
Weiping Qin ◽  
Takahiro Nomura ◽  
...  

The general transcription factor IIF (TFIIF) assembled in the initiation complex, and RAP30 of TFIIF, have been shown to associate with RNA polymerase II (pol II), although it remains unclear which pol II subunit is responsible for the interaction. We examined whether TFIIF interacts with RNA polymerase II subunit 5 (RPB5), the exposed domain of which binds transcriptional regulatory factors such as hepatitis B virus X protein and a novel regulatory protein, RPB5-mediating protein. The results demonstrated that RPB5 directly binds RAP30in vitrousing purified recombinant proteins andin vivoin COS1 cells transiently expressing recombinant RAP30 and RPB5. The RAP30-binding region was mapped to the central region (amino acids (aa) 47–120) of RPB5, which partly overlaps the hepatitis B virus X protein-binding region. Although the middle part (aa 101–170) and the N-terminus (aa 1–100) of RAP30 independently bound RPB5, the latter was not involved in the RPB5 binding when RAP30 was present in TFIIF complex. Scanning of the middle part of RAP30 by clustered alanine substitutions and then point alanine substitutions pinpointed two residues critical for the RPB5 binding inin vitroandin vivoassays. Wild type but not mutants Y124A and Q131A of RAP30 coexpressed with FLAG-RAP74 efficiently recovered endogenous RPB5 to the FLAG-RAP74-bound anti-FLAG M2 resin. The recovered endogenous RPB5 is assembled in pol II as demonstrated immunologically. Interestingly, coexpression of the central region of RPB5 and wild type RAP30 inhibited recovery of endogenous pol II to the FLAG-RAP74-bound M2 resin, strongly suggesting that the RAP30-binding region of RPB5 inhibited the association of TFIIF and pol II. The exposed domain of RPB5 interacts with RAP30 of TFIIF and is important for the association between pol II and TFIIF.



2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (21) ◽  
pp. E2899-E2905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina O. Vvedenskaya ◽  
Hanif Vahedian-Movahed ◽  
Yuanchao Zhang ◽  
Deanne M. Taylor ◽  
Richard H. Ebright ◽  
...  

During transcription initiation, RNA polymerase (RNAP) holoenzyme unwinds ∼13 bp of promoter DNA, forming an RNAP-promoter open complex (RPo) containing a single-stranded transcription bubble, and selects a template-strand nucleotide to serve as the transcription start site (TSS). In RPo, RNAP core enzyme makes sequence-specific protein–DNA interactions with the downstream part of the nontemplate strand of the transcription bubble (“core recognition element,” CRE). Here, we investigated whether sequence-specific RNAP–CRE interactions affect TSS selection. To do this, we used two next-generation sequencing-based approaches to compare the TSS profile of WT RNAP to that of an RNAP derivative defective in sequence-specific RNAP–CRE interactions. First, using massively systematic transcript end readout, MASTER, we assessed effects of RNAP–CRE interactions on TSS selection in vitro and in vivo for a library of 47 (∼16,000) consensus promoters containing different TSS region sequences, and we observed that the TSS profile of the RNAP derivative defective in RNAP–CRE interactions differed from that of WT RNAP, in a manner that correlated with the presence of consensus CRE sequences in the TSS region. Second, using 5′ merodiploid native-elongating-transcript sequencing, 5′ mNET-seq, we assessed effects of RNAP–CRE interactions at natural promoters in Escherichia coli, and we identified 39 promoters at which RNAP–CRE interactions determine TSS selection. Our findings establish RNAP–CRE interactions are a functional determinant of TSS selection. We propose that RNAP–CRE interactions modulate the position of the downstream end of the transcription bubble in RPo, and thereby modulate TSS selection, which involves transcription bubble expansion or transcription bubble contraction (scrunching or antiscrunching).



1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5433-5441
Author(s):  
B Y Ahn ◽  
P D Gershon ◽  
E V Jones ◽  
B Moss

Eucaryotic transcription factors that stimulate RNA polymerase II by increasing the efficiency of elongation of specifically or randomly initiated RNA chains have been isolated and characterized. We have identified a 30-kilodalton (kDa) vaccinia virus-encoded protein with apparent homology to SII, a 34-kDa mammalian transcriptional elongation factor. In addition to amino acid sequence similarities, both proteins contain C-terminal putative zinc finger domains. Identification of the gene, rpo30, encoding the vaccinia virus protein was achieved by using antibody to the purified viral RNA polymerase for immunoprecipitation of the in vitro translation products of in vivo-synthesized early mRNA selected by hybridization to cloned DNA fragments of the viral genome. Western immunoblot analysis using antiserum made to the vaccinia rpo30 protein expressed in bacteria indicated that the 30-kDa protein remains associated with highly purified viral RNA polymerase. Thus, the vaccinia virus protein, unlike its eucaryotic homolog, is an integral RNA polymerase subunit rather than a readily separable transcription factor. Further studies showed that the expression of rpo30 is regulated by dual early and later promoters.





1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 5782-5795 ◽  
Author(s):  
D K Wiest ◽  
D K Hawley

Transcription from the adenovirus major late (ML) promoter has previously been shown to pause or terminate prematurely in vivo and in vitro at a site within the first intron of the major late transcription unit. We are studying the mechanism of elongation arrest at this site in vitro to define the DNA sequences and proteins that determine the elongation behavior of RNA polymerase II. Our assay system consists of a nuclear extract prepared from cultured human cells. With standard reaction conditions, termination is not observed downstream of the ML promoter. However, in the presence of Sarkosyl, up to 80% of the transcripts terminate 186 nucleotides downstream of the start site. Using this assay, we showed that the DNA sequences required to promote maximal levels of termination downstream of the ML promoter reside within a 65-base-pair region and function in an orientation-dependent manner. To test whether elongation complexes from the ML promoter were functionally homogeneous, we determined the termination efficiency at each of two termination sites placed in tandem. We found that the behavior of the elongation complexes was different at these sites, with termination being greater at the downstream site over a wide range of Sarkosyl concentrations. This result ruled out a model in which the polymerases that read through the first site were stably modified to antiterminate. We also demonstrated that the ability of the elongation complexes to respond to the ML termination site was promoter specific, as the site did not function efficiently downstream of a heterologous promoter. Taken together, the results presented here are not consistent with the simplest class of models that have been proposed previously for the mechanism of Sarkosyl-induced termination.



eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Hocher ◽  
Maria Rojec ◽  
Jacob B Swadling ◽  
Alexander Esin ◽  
Tobias Warnecke

Histones are a principal constituent of chromatin in eukaryotes and fundamental to our understanding of eukaryotic gene regulation. In archaea, histones are widespread but not universal: several lineages have lost histone genes. What prompted or facilitated these losses and how archaea without histones organize their chromatin remains largely unknown. Here, we elucidate primary chromatin architecture in an archaeon without histones, Thermoplasma acidophilum, which harbors a HU family protein (HTa) that protects part of the genome from micrococcal nuclease digestion. Charting HTa-based chromatin architecture in vitro, in vivo and in an HTa-expressing E. coli strain, we present evidence that HTa is an archaeal histone analog. HTa preferentially binds to GC-rich sequences, exhibits invariant positioning throughout the growth cycle, and shows archaeal histone-like oligomerization behavior. Our results suggest that HTa, a DNA-binding protein of bacterial origin, has converged onto an architectural role filled by histones in other archaea.





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