scholarly journals Non-Coding, RNAPII-Dependent Transcription at the Promoters of rRNA Genes Regulates Their Chromatin State in S. cerevisiae

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Emma Lesage ◽  
Jorge Perez-Fernandez ◽  
Sophie Queille ◽  
Christophe Dez ◽  
Olivier Gadal ◽  
...  

Pervasive transcription is widespread in eukaryotes, generating large families of non-coding RNAs. Such pervasive transcription is a key player in the regulatory pathways controlling chromatin state and gene expression. Here, we describe long non-coding RNAs generated from the ribosomal RNA gene promoter called UPStream-initiating transcripts (UPS). In yeast, rDNA genes are organized in tandem repeats in at least two different chromatin states, either transcribed and largely depleted of nucleosomes (open) or assembled in regular arrays of nucleosomes (closed). The production of UPS transcripts by RNA Polymerase II from endogenous rDNA genes was initially documented in mutants defective for rRNA production by RNA polymerase I. We show here that UPS are produced in wild-type cells from closed rDNA genes but are hidden within the enormous production of rRNA. UPS levels are increased when rDNA chromatin states are modified at high temperatures or entering/leaving quiescence. We discuss their role in the regulation of rDNA chromatin states and rRNA production.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siv Anita Hegre ◽  
Helle Samdal ◽  
Antonin Klima ◽  
Endre B. Stovner ◽  
Kristin G. Nørsett ◽  
...  

AbstractProper regulation of the cell cycle is necessary for normal growth and development of all organisms. Conversely, altered cell cycle regulation often underlies proliferative diseases such as cancer. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are recognized as important regulators of gene expression and are often found dysregulated in diseases, including cancers. However, identifying lncRNAs with cell cycle functions is challenging due to their often low and cell-type specific expression. We present a highly effective method that analyses changes in promoter activity, transcription, and RNA levels for identifying genes enriched for cell cycle functions. Specifically, by combining RNA sequencing with ChIP sequencing through the cell cycle of synchronized human keratinocytes, we identified 1009 genes with cell cycle-dependent expression and correlated changes in RNA polymerase II occupancy or promoter activity as measured by histone 3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3). These genes were highly enriched for genes with known cell cycle functions and included 59 lncRNAs. We selected four of these lncRNAs – AC005682.5, RP11-132A1.4, ZFAS1, and EPB41L4A-AS1 – for further experimental validation and found that knockdown of each of the four lncRNAs affected cell cycle phase distributions and reduced proliferation in multiple cell lines. These results show that many genes with cell cycle functions have concomitant cell-cycle dependent changes in promoter activity, transcription, and RNA levels and support that our multi-omics method is well suited for identifying lncRNAs involved in the cell cycle.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (17) ◽  
pp. 9024-9036 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jered M Wendte ◽  
Jeremy R Haag ◽  
Olga M Pontes ◽  
Jasleen Singh ◽  
Sara Metcalf ◽  
...  

Abstract In plants, nuclear multisubunit RNA polymerases IV and V are RNA Polymerase II-related enzymes that synthesize non-coding RNAs for RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) and transcriptional gene silencing. Here, we tested the importance of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of Pol IV’s largest subunit given that the Pol II CTD mediates multiple aspects of Pol II transcription. We show that the CTD is dispensable for Pol IV catalytic activity and Pol IV termination-dependent activation of RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE 2, which partners with Pol IV to generate dsRNA precursors of the 24 nt siRNAs that guide RdDM. However, 24 nt siRNA levels decrease ∼80% when the CTD is deleted. RNA-dependent cytosine methylation is also reduced, but only ∼20%, suggesting that siRNA levels typically exceed the levels needed for methylation of most loci. Pol IV-dependent loci affected by loss of the CTD are primarily located in chromosome arms, similar to loci dependent CLSY1/2 or SHH1, which are proteins implicated in Pol IV recruitment. However, deletion of the CTD does not phenocopy clsy or shh1 mutants, consistent with the CTD affecting post-recruitment aspects of Pol IV activity at target loci.


2006 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 937-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brenden Rickards ◽  
S. J. Flint ◽  
Michael D. Cole ◽  
Gary LeRoy

ABSTRACT Eukaryotic genomes are packaged with histones and accessory proteins in the form of chromatin. RNA polymerases and their accessory proteins are sufficient for transcription of naked DNA, but not of chromatin, templates in vitro. In this study, we purified and identified nucleolin as a protein that allows RNA polymerase II to transcribe nucleosomal templates in vitro. As immunofluorescence confirmed that nucleolin localizes primarily to nucleoli with RNA polymerase I, we demonstrated that nucleolin allows RNA polymerase I transcription of chromatin templates in vitro. The results of chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments established that nucleolin is associated with chromatin containing rRNA genes transcribed by RNA polymerase I but not with genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II or III. Knockdown of nucleolin by RNA interference resulted in specific inhibition of RNA polymerase I transcription. We therefore propose that an important function of nucleolin is to permit RNA polymerase I to transcribe nucleolar chromatin.


1993 ◽  
Vol 90 (23) ◽  
pp. 11167-11171 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Baskaran ◽  
M E Dahmus ◽  
J Y Wang

The carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II is composed of tandem repeats of the consensus sequence Tyr-Ser-Pro-Thr-Ser-Pro-Ser. Phosphorylation of the CTD occurs during formation of the initiation complex and is correlated with the transition from complex assembly to elongation. Previously, serine and threonine residues within the CTD have been shown to be modified by the addition of phosphate and by the addition of O-linked GlcNAc. Our results establish that the CTD is also modified in vivo by phosphorylation on tyrosine. Furthermore, a nuclear tyrosine kinase encoded by the c-abl protooncogene phosphorylates the CTD to a high stoichiometry in vitro. Under conditions of maximum phosphorylation, approximately 30 mol of phosphate are incorporated per mol of CTD. The observation that the CTD is not phosphorylated by c-Src tyrosine kinase under identical conditions indicates that the CTD is not a substrate of all tyrosine kinases. Phosphorylation of tyrosine residues within the CTD may modulate the interaction of RNA polymerase II with the preinitiation complex and, hence, may be important in regulating gene expression.


Author(s):  
Júlia Torné ◽  
Dominique Ray-Gallet ◽  
Ekaterina Boyarchuk ◽  
Mickaël Garnier ◽  
Antoine Coulon ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe packaging of DNA into nucleosomes represents a challenge for transcription. Nucleosome disruption and histone eviction enables RNA Polymerase II progression through DNA, a process that compromises chromatin integrity and the maintenance of epigenetic information. Here, we used the imaging SNAP-tag system to distinguish new and old histones and monitor chromatin re-assembly coupled to transcription in cells. First, we uncovered a loss of both old variants H3.1 and H3.3 that depends on transcriptional activity, with a major effect on H3.3. Focusing on transcriptionally active domains, we revealed a local enrichment in H3.3 with dynamics involving both new H3.3 incorporation and old H3.3 retention. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that the HIRA chaperone is critical to handle both new and old H3.3, and showed that this implicates different pathways. The de novo H3.3 deposition depends strictly on HIRA trimerization as well as its partner UBN1 while ASF1 interaction with HIRA can be bypassed. In contrast, the recycling of H3.3 requires HIRA but proceeds independently of UBN1 or HIRA trimerization and shows an absolute dependency on ASF1-HIRA interaction. Therefore, we propose a model where HIRA can coordinate these distinct pathways for old H3.3 recycling and new H3.3 deposition during transcription to fine-tune chromatin states.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 3326-3330 ◽  
Author(s):  
R D Adam ◽  
T E Nash ◽  
T E Wellems

Giardia lamblia telomeres have been isolated from a library enriched for repaired chromosome ends by (i) screening with a Plasmodium falciparum telomere and (ii) differential hybridization with Bal 31-digested and total G. lamblia DNA. Analysis of three clones isolated by this strategy has identified multiple tandem repeats of the 5-mer TAGGG. An oligonucleotide containing these repeats recognizes Bal 31-sensitive bands in Southern hybridizations and detects all G. lamblia chromosomes in pulsed-field gel electrophoresis separations. An abrupt transition from the G. lamblia rDNA sequence to telomeric repeats has been found in all three clones. In two of the clones the transition occurs at the same site, near the beginning of the large subunit rDNA sequence. In the third clone the transition occurs at a site in the intergenic spacer sequence between the rDNA genes. Hybridization of an rDNA probe to a pulsed-field separation of G. lamblia chromosomes indicates that rDNA genes are present on several chromosomes but vary in location from isolate to isolate. These results suggest that rRNA genes are clustered at telomeric locations in G. lamblia and that these clusters are mobile.


Open Biology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 170073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana Guiro ◽  
Shona Murphy

In addition to protein-coding genes, RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcribes numerous genes for non-coding RNAs, including the small-nuclear (sn)RNA genes. snRNAs are an important class of non-coding RNAs, several of which are involved in pre-mRNA splicing. The molecular mechanisms underlying expression of human pol II-transcribed snRNA genes are less well characterized than for protein-coding genes and there are important differences in expression of these two gene types. Here, we review the DNA features and proteins required for efficient transcription of snRNA genes and co-transcriptional 3′ end formation of the transcripts.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika A. Herzog ◽  
Brian Reichholf ◽  
Tobias Neumann ◽  
Philipp Rescheneder ◽  
Pooja Bhat ◽  
...  

AbstractGene expression profiling by high-throughput sequencing reveals qualitative and quantitative changes in RNA species at steady-state but obscures the intracellular dynamics of RNA transcription, processing and decay. We developed thiol(SH)-linked alkylation for the metabolic sequencing of RNA (SLAM-seq), an orthogonal chemistry-based epitranscriptomics-sequencing technology that uncovers 4-thiouridine (s4U)-incorporation in RNA species at single-nucleotide resolution. In combination with well-established metabolic RNA labeling protocols and coupled to standard, low-input, high-throughput RNA sequencing methods, SLAM-seq enables rapid access to RNA polymerase II-dependent gene expression dynamics in the context of total RNA. When applied to mouse embryonic stem cells, SLAM-seq provides global and transcript-specific insights into pluripotency-associated gene expression. We validated the method by showing that the RNA-polymerase II-dependent transcriptional output scales with Oct4/Sox2/Nanog-defined enhancer activity; and we provide quantitative and mechanistic evidence for transcript-specific RNA turnover mediated by post-transcriptional gene regulatory pathways initiated by microRNAs and N6-methyladenosine. SLAM-seq facilitates the dissection of fundamental mechanisms that control gene expression in an accessible, cost-effective, and scalable manner.One Sentence Summary:Chemical nucleotide-analog derivatization provides global insights into transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayato Hirai ◽  
Yuki Shogaki ◽  
Masamitsu Sato

Centromeres are established by nucleosomes containing the histone H3 variant CENP-A. CENP-A is recruited to centromeres by the Mis18-HJURP machinery. During mitosis, CENP-A recruitment ceases, implying the necessity of CENP-A maintenance at centromeres, although the exact underlying mechanism remains elusive. Herein, we show that the kinetochore protein Mis6 (CENP-I) retains CENP-A during mitosis in fission yeast. Eliminating Mis6 during mitosis caused immediate loss of pre-existing CENP-A at centromeres. CENP-A loss occurred due to the transcriptional upregulation of non-coding RNAs at the central core region of centromeres, as confirmed by the observation RNA polymerase II inhibition preventing CENP-A loss from centromeres in the mis6 mutant. Thus, we concluded that Mis6 blocks the indiscriminate transcription of non-coding RNAs at the core centromere, thereby retaining the epigenetic inheritance of CENP-A during mitosis.


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