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Distinct structural features of TFAM drive mitochondrial DNA packaging versus transcriptional activation.

ABSTRACT: TFAM (transcription factor A, mitochondrial) is a DNA-binding protein that activates transcription at the two major promoters of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)--the light strand promoter (LSP) and the heavy strand promoter 1 (HSP1). Equally important, it coats and packages the mitochondrial genome. TFAM has been shown to impose a U-turn on LSP DNA; however, whether this distortion is relevant at other sites is unknown. Here we present crystal structures of TFAM bound to HSP1 and to nonspecific DNA. In both, TFAM similarly distorts the DNA into a U-turn. Yet, TFAM binds to HSP1 in the opposite orientation from LSP explaining why transcription from LSP requires DNA bending, whereas transcription at HSP1 does not. Moreover, the crystal structures reveal dimerization of DNA-bound TFAM. This dimerization is dispensable for DNA bending and transcriptional activation but is important in DNA compaction. We propose that TFAM dimerization enhances mitochondrial DNA compaction by promoting looping of the DNA.

SUBMITTER: Ngo HB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3936014 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Distinct structural features of TFAM drive mitochondrial DNA packaging versus transcriptional activation.

Ngo Huu B HB Lovely Geoffrey A GA Phillips Rob R Chan David C DC

Nature communications 20140101

TFAM (transcription factor A, mitochondrial) is a DNA-binding protein that activates transcription at the two major promoters of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)--the light strand promoter (LSP) and the heavy strand promoter 1 (HSP1). Equally important, it coats and packages the mitochondrial genome. TFAM has been shown to impose a U-turn on LSP DNA; however, whether this distortion is relevant at other sites is unknown. Here we present crystal structures of TFAM bound to HSP1 and to nonspecific DNA. I ...[more]

PMID: 24435062

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Project description:Metabolic dysregulation is a known hallmark of cancer progression, yet the oncogenic signals that promote metabolic adaptations to drive metastatic cancer remain unclear. Here, we show that transcriptional repression of mitochondrial deacetylase sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) by androgen receptor (AR) and its coregulator steroid receptor coactivator-2 (SRC-2) enhances mitochondrial aconitase (ACO2) activity to favor aggressive prostate cancer. ACO2 promoted mitochondrial citrate synthesis to facilitate de novo lipogenesis, and genetic ablation of ACO2 reduced total lipid content and severely repressed in vivo prostate cancer progression. A single acetylation mark lysine258 on ACO2 functioned as a regulatory motif, and the acetylation-deficient Lys258Arg mutant was enzymatically inactive and failed to rescue growth of ACO2-deficient cells. Acetylation of ACO2 was reversibly regulated by SIRT3, which was predominantly repressed in many tumors including prostate cancer. Mechanistically, SRC-2-bound AR formed a repressive complex by recruiting histone deacetylase 2 to the SIRT3 promoter, and depletion of SRC-2 enhanced SIRT3 expression and simultaneously reduced acetylated ACO2. In human prostate tumors, ACO2 activity was significantly elevated, and increased expression of SRC-2 with concomitant reduction of SIRT3 was found to be a genetic hallmark enriched in prostate cancer metastatic lesions. In a mouse model of spontaneous bone metastasis, suppression of SRC-2 reactivated SIRT3 expression and was sufficient to abolish prostate cancer colonization in the bone microenvironment, implying this nuclear-mitochondrial regulatory axis is a determining factor for metastatic competence. SIGNIFICANCE: This study highlights the importance of mitochondrial aconitase activity in the development of advanced metastatic prostate cancer and suggests that blocking SRC-2 to enhance SIRT3 expression may be therapeutically valuable. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/canres/81/1/50/F1.large.jpg.

Project description:BackgroundInflammatory activation of CD8+ T cells can, when left unchecked, drive severe immunopathology. Hyperstimulation of CD8+ T cells through a broad set of triggering signals can precipitate hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a life-threatening systemic inflammatory disorder.ObjectiveThe mechanism linking CD8+ T-cell hyperactivation to pathology is controversial, with excessive production of IFN-γ and, more recently, excessive consumption of IL-2, which are proposed as competing hypotheses. We formally tested the proximal mechanistic events of each pathway in a mouse model of HLH.MethodsIn addition to reporting a complete autosomal recessive IFN-γ receptor 1-deficient patient with multiple aspects of HLH pathology, we used the mouse model of perforin (Prf1)KO mice infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus to genetically eliminate either IFN-γ production or CD25 expression and assess the immunologic, hematologic, and physiologic disease measurement.ResultsWe found a striking dichotomy between the mechanistic basis of the hematologic and inflammatory components of CD8+ T cell-mediated pathology. The hematologic features of HLH were completely dependent on IFN-γ production, with complete correction after loss of IFN-γ production without any role for CD8+ T cell-mediated IL-2 consumption. By contrast, the mechanistic contribution of the immunologic features was reversed, with no role for IFN-γ production but substantial correction after reduction of IL-2 consumption by hyperactivated CD8+ T cells. These results were complemented by the characterization of an IFN-γ receptor 1-deficient patients with HLH-like disease, in whom multiple aspects of HLH pathology were observed in the absence of IFN-γ signaling.ConclusionThese results synthesize the competing mechanistic models of HLH pathology into a dichotomous pathogenesis driven through discrete pathways. A holistic model provides a new paradigm for understanding HLH and, more broadly, the consequences of CD8+ T-cell hyperactivation, thereby paving the way for clinical intervention based on the features of HLH in individual patients.

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Distinct structural features of TFAM drive mitochondrial DNA packaging versus transcriptional activation.

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Distinct structural features of TFAM drive mitochondrial DNA packaging versus transcriptional activation.

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