Genome-wide mapping of 5-hydroxymethyluracil in Trypanosoma brucei
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ABSTRACT: 5-Hydroxymethyluracil (5hmU) is a thymine modification existing in the genomes of a number of living organisms. The post-replicative formation of 5hmU occurs via hydroxylation of thymine, which can be mediated by the ten-eleven translocation (TET) dioxygenases in mammalian and J-binding proteins (JBPs) in protozoan genomes, respectively. In addition, 5hmU also can be generated through oxidation of thymine by reactive oxygen species or from deamination of 5hmC by activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) or APOBEC family enzymes. While the biological roles of 5hmU have not been fully explored, identifying its genomic location will assist in elucidating its functions. Herein, we report a method of enzyme-mediated bioorthogonal labeling to selectively enrich genomic regions containing 5hmU. 5hmU DNA kinase (5hmUDK) was utilized to selectively install an azide group or alkynyl group into the hydroxyl group of 5hmU followed by incorporation of the biotin linker through click chemistry and capture of 5hmU-containing DNA fragments via streptavidin pull-down. The enriched fragments were applied to deep sequencing to map the location of 5hmU. With this established enzyme-mediated bioorthogonal labeling strategy, we achieved the genome-wide mapping of 5hmU in Trypanosoma brucei (T. brucei) genomes. The method described here will allow for a better understanding of the functional roles and dynamics of 5hmU in genomes
Project description:5-hydroxymethyluracil (5hmU) is a thymine base modification found in genomes of a diverse range of organisms. To explore the functional importance of 5hmU, we developed a method for the genome-wide mapping of 5hmU-modified loci based on a chemical tagging strategy for the hydroxymethyl group. We applied the method to generate genome-wide maps of 5hmU in parasitic protozoan Leishmania, where 5hmU forms enzymatically via hydroxylation of thymine. In the genus, another thymine modification 5-(β-glucopyranosyl) hydroxymethyluracil (base J) plays key roles during transcription. To elucidate relationships between 5hmU and base J, we also mapped base J loci by introducing a chemical tagging strategy for the glucopyranoside residue. Results: Observed 5hmU peaks were highly consistent among technical replicates, confirming the robustness of the method. 5hmU were particularly enriched in strand switch regions, telomeric regions and intergenic regions. Over 90% of 5hmU-enriched loci overlapped with base J-enriched loci, which occurred mostly within strand switch regions. We also identified loci comprising 5hmU but not base J. These 5hmU-specific loci were enriched with motifs consisting of a stretch of thymine bases and associated with higher RNA levels. Conclusions: By chemically detecting 5hmU we provide the first genome-wide map of 5hmU, which will help addressing the emerging interest in the role of 5hmU. The presence of 5hmU-specific loci may suggest that 5hmU has unique roles.
Project description:Base J, β-D-glucosyl-hydroxymethyluracil, is an epigenetic modification of thymine in the nuclear DNA of flagellated protozoa of the order Kinetoplastida. J is enriched at sites involved in RNA Polymerase (RNAP) II initiation and termination. We have previously demonstrated a role of J in regulating RNAP II initiation in Trypanosoma cruzi. Reduction of J in Leishmania tarentolae via growth in BrdU resulted in cell death and indicated a role of J in the regulation of RNAP II termination. To further explore J function in RNAP II termination among kinetoplastids and avoid indirect effects associated with BrdU toxicity and genetic deletions, we inhibited J synthesis in L. major and T. brucei using DMOG. Reduction of J in L. major resulted in genome-wide defects in transcription termination and the generation of antisense RNAs, without cell death. In contrast, loss of J in T. brucei did not lead to genome-wide termination defects; however, the loss of J at specific sites within polycistronic gene clusters led to altered transcription elongation and increased expression of downstream genes. Thus, J regulation of transcription termination genome-wide is restricted to Leishmania spp., while in T. brucei it regulates RNAP II elongation and gene expression at specific genomic loci.
Project description:Base J, β-D-glucosyl-hydroxymethyluracil, is an epigenetic modification of thymine in the nuclear DNA of flagellated protozoa of the order Kinetoplastida. J is enriched at sites involved in RNA Polymerase (RNAP) II initiation and termination. We have previously demonstrated a role of J in regulating RNAP II initiation in Trypanosoma cruzi. Reduction of J in Leishmania tarentolae via growth in BrdU resulted in cell death and indicated a role of J in the regulation of RNAP II termination. To further explore J function in RNAP II termination among kinetoplastids and avoid indirect effects associated with BrdU toxicity and genetic deletions, we inhibited J synthesis in L. major and T. brucei using DMOG. Reduction of J in L. major resulted in genome-wide defects in transcription termination and the generation of antisense RNAs, without cell death. In contrast, loss of J in T. brucei did not lead to genome-wide termination defects; however, the loss of J at specific sites within polycistronic gene clusters led to altered transcription elongation and increased expression of downstream genes. Thus, J regulation of transcription termination genome-wide is restricted to Leishmania spp., while in T. brucei it regulates RNAP II elongation and gene expression at specific genomic loci. We studied the effect of loss of base J on transcription using WT and WT cells grown in DMOG-containing medium. We used 2 RNA-seq libraries containing processed RNA products and 4 small RNA libraries representing the entire transcriptome.
Project description:We applied the chemical reporter-based metabolic labeling method to acquire O-GlcNAc modified proteins chromatin loci. Human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, as well as the genotoxic stress (Adriamycin) adapted cells MCF-7/ADR, were fed with 1 mM GalNAz. Metabolic labeled O-GlcNAz chromatin were crosslinked, sonicated and enriched by bioorthogonal chemistry. Then, the genomic DNA fragments bounded by O-GlcNAc mark were de-crosslinked, and constructed into libraries following by next-generation sequencing (Chemoselective O-GlcNAc chromatin sequencing, COGC-seq). To verify the robustness of this chemical reporter-based metabolic labeling method, we compared the results in MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells with classical lectin succinylated wheat germ agglutinin (sWGA) ChIP-seq strategy. We also analyzed gene expression MCF-7 and MCF-7/ADR cells by RNA-seq.
Project description:Some T's in nuclear DNA of trypanosomes and Leishmania are hydroxylated and glucosylated to yield base J (?-D-glucosyl-hydroxymethyluracil). In Leishmania about 99% of J is located in telomeric repeats. We show here that most of the remaining J is located at chromosome-internal RNA Polymerase II termination sites. Both this internal J and telomeric J can be reduced by a knockout of J-binding protein 2 (JBP2), an enzyme involved in the first step of J biosynthesis. J levels are further reduced by growing Leishmania JBP2 knockout cells in BrdU-containing medium, resulting in cell death. The loss of internal J is accompanied by massive read-through at RNA Polymerase II termination sites. The degree of read-through varies between transcription units, but may extend over 100 kb. We conclude that J is required for proper transcription termination and infer that the absence of internal J kills Leishmania by massive read-through of transcriptional stops. We determined the exact location of base J in the genome of Leishmania by high-throughput sequencing of J containing DNA fragments. Samples were enriched for J-containing fragments by two independent methods: ChIP using an anti-J DNA antibody or by binding to a the J-binding protein JBP1. We studied the effect of loss of J on transcription using WT, JBP2 knockout (30-37% of WT level J), and JBP2 knockout cells grown in BrdU containing medium (13-16% of WT level of J). We used 6 RNA-seq libraries (three samples & two replica each) containing processed RNA products (transspliced and poly-adenylated) and 3 small RNA libraries representing the entire transcriptome.
Project description:N 4-methylcytosine (4mC) is a natural DNA modification occurring in thermophiles and plays important roles in restriction-modification (R-M) systems in bacterial genomes. However, the precise location and sequence context of 4mC in the whole genome are limited. In this study, we developed an APOBEC3A-mediated deamination sequencing (4mC-AMD-seq) method for genome-wide mapping of 4mC at single-base resolution. In the 4mC-AMD-seq method, cytosine and 5-methylcytosine (5mC) are deaminated by APOBEC3A (A3A) protein to generate uracil and thymine, both of which are read as thymine in sequencing, while 4mC is resistant to deamination and therefore read as cytosine. Thus, the readouts of cytosines from sequencing could manifest the original 4mC sites in genomes. With the 4mC-AMD-seq method, we achieved the genome-wide mapping of 4mC in Deinococcus radiodurans (D. radiodurans). In addition, we confirmed that 4mC, but not 5mC, was the major modification in the D. radiodurans genome. We identified 1586 4mC sites in the genome of D. radiodurans, among which 564 sites were located in the CCGCGG motif. The average methylation levels in the CCGCGG motif and non-CCGCGG sequence were 70.0% and 22.8%, respectively. We envision that the 4mC-AMD-seq method will facilitate the investigation of 4mC functions, including the 4mC-involved R-M systems, in uncharacterized but potentially useful strains.
Project description:Eukaryotes have an array of diverse mechanisms for organising and using their genomes, but the histones that make up chromatin are highly conserved. Unusually, histones from Kinetoplastids are highly divergent. The structural and functional consequences of this variation are unknown. Here, we have biochemically characterised nucleosome core particles (NCPs) from the Kinetoplastid parasite Trypanosoma brucei. A structure of the T. brucei NCP reveals that global histone architecture is conserved, but specific sequence alterations lead to distinct DNA and protein interaction interfaces. The T. brucei NCP is unstable and has weakened DNA binding overall. However, dramatic changes at the H2A-H2B interface introduce local reinforcement of DNA contacts. The T. brucei acidic patch has altered topology and is refractory to known binders, indicating that the nature of chromatin interactions in T. brucei may be unique. Overall, our results provide a detailed molecular basis for understanding evolutionary divergence in chromatin structure.
Project description:m6A is the most abundant internal modification in eukaryotic mRNA. It is introduced by METTL3-METTL14 and tunes mRNA metabolism, impacting cell differentiation and development. Precise transcriptome-wide assignment of m6A sites is of utmost importance. However, m6A does not interfere with Watson-Crick base pairing making polymerase-based detection challenging. We developed a chemical biology approach for the precise mapping of methyltransferase (MTase) target sites based on the introduction of a bioorthogonal propargyl group in vitro and in cells. We show that propargyl can be introduced enzymatically by wild-type METTL3-METTL14. Reverse transcription terminated up to 65 % at m6A sites after bioconjugation and purification, hence enabling detection of METTL3-METTL14 target sites by next generation sequencing. Importantly, we implemented metabolic propargyl labeling of RNA MTase target sites in vivo based on propargyl-L-selenohomocysteine and validated different types of known rRNA methylation sites.