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Heterotrimerization of heat-shock factors 1 and 2 provides a transcriptional switch in response to distinct stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Organisms respond to circumstances threatening the cellular protein homeostasis by activation of heat-shock transcription factors (HSFs), which play important roles in stress resistance, development, and longevity. Of the four HSFs in vertebrates (HSF1-4), HSF1 is activated by stress, whereas HSF2 lacks intrinsic stress responsiveness. The mechanism by which HSF2 is recruited to stress-inducible promoters and how HSF2 is activated is not known. However, changes in the HSF2 expression occur, coinciding with the functions of HSF2 in development. Here, we demonstrate that HSF1 and HSF2 form heterotrimers when bound to satellite III DNA in nuclear stress bodies, subnuclear structures in which HSF1 induces transcription. By depleting HSF2, we show that HSF1-HSF2 heterotrimerization is a mechanism regulating transcription. Upon stress, HSF2 DNA binding is HSF1 dependent. Intriguingly, when the elevated expression of HSF2 during development is mimicked, HSF2 binds to DNA and becomes transcriptionally competent. HSF2 activation leads to activation of also HSF1, revealing a functional interdependency that is mediated through the conserved trimerization domains of these factors. We propose that heterotrimerization of HSF1 and HSF2 integrates transcriptional activation in response to distinct stress and developmental stimuli.

SUBMITTER: Sandqvist A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2649261 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Heterotrimerization of heat-shock factors 1 and 2 provides a transcriptional switch in response to distinct stimuli.

Sandqvist Anton A Björk Johanna K JK Akerfelt Malin M Chitikova Zhanna Z Grichine Alexei A Vourc'h Claire C Jolly Caroline C Salminen Tiina A TA Nymalm Yvonne Y Sistonen Lea L

Molecular biology of the cell 20090107 5

Organisms respond to circumstances threatening the cellular protein homeostasis by activation of heat-shock transcription factors (HSFs), which play important roles in stress resistance, development, and longevity. Of the four HSFs in vertebrates (HSF1-4), HSF1 is activated by stress, whereas HSF2 lacks intrinsic stress responsiveness. The mechanism by which HSF2 is recruited to stress-inducible promoters and how HSF2 is activated is not known. However, changes in the HSF2 expression occur, coin ...[more]

PMID: 19129477

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Project description:BackgroundThe heat shock response of Arabidopsis thaliana is dependent upon a complex regulatory network involving twenty-one known transcription factors and four heat shock protein families. It is known that heat shock proteins (Hsps) and transcription factors (Hsfs) are involved in cellular response to various forms of stress besides heat. However, the role of Hsps and Hsfs under cold and non-thermal stress conditions is not well understood, and it is unclear which types of stress interact least and most strongly with Hsp and Hsf response pathways. To address this issue, we have analyzed transcriptional response profiles of Arabidopsis Hsfs and Hsps to a range of abiotic and biotic stress treatments (heat, cold, osmotic stress, salt, drought, genotoxic stress, ultraviolet light, oxidative stress, wounding, and pathogen infection) in both above and below-ground plant tissues.ResultsAll stress treatments interact with Hsf and Hsp response pathways to varying extents, suggesting considerable cross-talk between heat and non-heat stress regulatory networks. In general, Hsf and Hsp expression was strongly induced by heat, cold, salt, and osmotic stress, while other types of stress exhibited family or tissue-specific response patterns. With respect to the Hsp20 protein family, for instance, large expression responses occurred under all types of stress, with striking similarity among expression response profiles. Several genes belonging to the Hsp20, Hsp70 and Hsp100 families were specifically upregulated twelve hours after wounding in root tissue, and exhibited a parallel expression response pattern during recovery from heat stress. Among all Hsf and Hsp families, large expression responses occurred under ultraviolet-B light stress in aerial tissue (shoots) but not subterranean tissue (roots).ConclusionOur findings show that Hsf and Hsp family member genes represent an interaction point between multiple stress response pathways, and therefore warrant functional analysis under conditions apart from heat shock treatment. In addition, our analysis revealed several family and tissue-specific heat shock gene expression patterns that have not been previously described. These results have implications regarding the molecular basis of cross-tolerance in plant species, and raise new questions to be pursued in future experimental studies of the Arabidopsis heat shock response network.

Project description:The majority of fungal species prefer the 12° to 30°C range, and relatively few species tolerate temperatures higher than 35°C. Our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the ability of some species to grow at higher temperatures is incomplete. Nosema ceranae is an obligate intracellular fungal parasite that infects honey bees and can cause individual mortality and contribute to colony collapse. Despite a reduced genome, this species is strikingly thermotolerant, growing optimally at the colony temperature of 35°C. In characterizing the heat shock response (HSR) in N. ceranae, we found that this and other microsporidian species have lost the transcriptional regulator HSF and possess a reduced set of putative core HSF1-dependent HSR target genes. Despite these losses, N. ceranae demonstrates robust upregulation of the remaining HSR target genes after heat shock. In addition, thermal stress leads to alterations in genes involved in various metabolic pathways, ribosome biogenesis and translation, and DNA repair. These results provide important insight into the stress responses of microsporidia. Such a new understanding will allow new comparisons with other pathogenic fungi and potentially enable the discovery of novel treatment strategies for microsporidian infections affecting food production and human health.IMPORTANCE We do not fully understand why some fungal species are able to grow at temperatures approaching mammalian body temperature. Nosema ceranae, a microsporidium, is a type of fungal parasite that infects honey bees and grows optimally at the colony temperature of 35°C despite possessing cellular machinery for responding to heat stress that is notably simpler than that of other fungi. We find that N. ceranae demonstrates a robust and broad response to heat shock. These results provide important insight into the stress responses of this type of fungus, allow new comparisons with other pathogenic fungi, and potentially enable the discovery of novel treatment strategies for this type of fungus.

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Heterotrimerization of heat-shock factors 1 and 2 provides a transcriptional switch in response to distinct stimuli.

Publications

Heterotrimerization of heat-shock factors 1 and 2 provides a transcriptional switch in response to distinct stimuli.

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