ABSTRACT: We have identified the protein binders of functionally distinct promoters from the Drosophila melanogaster genome using nuclear extracts prepared from Schneider S2 cells
Project description:In order to identify interaction partner of the Drosophila melanogaster TFIIA protein, we have immunoprecipitated an endogenously 3xFLAG-AID tagged TFIIA-L from Drosophila Schneider S2 cells
Project description:Using CRISPR-Cas9 to tag endogenous remodeler subunits in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells, we demonstrate that developmental gene transcription requires SWI/SNF-type complexes, primarily to maintain distal enhancer accessibility.
Project description:Small RNA silencing pathways protect genome integrity in part through establishing heterochromatin at transposon loci. In animals, this process requires piRNA-guided targeting of nuclear PIWI proteins to nascent transcripts. The molecular events contributing to heterochromatin formation upon PIWI binding to nascent RNA, a transient molecule at chromatin, are unknown. Here, we identify SFINX, a protein complex that is required for Piwi-mediated co-transcriptional silencing in Drosophila. It consists of Nxf2—a variant of the nuclear RNA export factor Nxf1/Tap, the mRNA export co-factor Nxt1/p15, and the Piwi-associated protein Panoramix. In the absence of Nxf2, Panoramix is targeted for degradation and piRNA-loaded Piwi is unable to establish heterochromatin. Consequently, nxf2 mutants exhibit severe transposon de-repression and are sterile. We show that within SFINX, Panoramix connects to the heterochromatin machinery while Nxf2 enables target silencing via nascent RNA. Thus, the Nxf2-Nxt1 heterodimer—despite having originated from core mRNA export machinery—has been repurposed for heterochromatin formation. Our data establish an unexpected link between nuclear small RNA biology and NXF-variants, which are widespread in animal lineages, but mostly lack ascribed functions.
Project description:Nuclear small RNA pathways safeguard genome integrity by establishing transcription-repressing heterochromatin at transposable elements. This inevitably also targets the transposon-rich source loci of the small RNAs themselves. How small RNA source loci are efficiently transcribed while transposon promoters are potently silenced, is not understood. Here, we show that transcription of Drosophila piRNA clusters—small RNA source loci in animal gonads—is enforced through RNA Polymerase II pre-initiation complex formation within repressive heterochromatin. This is accomplished through the TFIIA-L paralog Moonshiner, which is recruited to piRNA clusters via the Heterochromatin Protein-1 variant Rhino. Moonshiner triggers transcription initiation within piRNA clusters by recruiting the TATA box-binding protein (TBP)-related factor TRF2, an animal TFIID core variant. Thus, transcription of heterochromatic small RNA source loci relies on direct recruitment of the core transcriptional machinery to DNA via histone marks rather than sequence motifs, a concept that we argue is a recurring theme in evolution.
Project description:Stem cells need to balance self-renewal and differentiation for correct tissue development and homeostasis. Defects in this balance can lead to developmental defects or tumor formation. In recent years, mRNA splicing has emerged as one important mechanism regulating cell fate decisions. Here we address the role of the evolutionary conserved splicing co-factor Barricade (Barc)/CUS2/Tat-SF1 in Drosophila neural stem cell (neuroblast) lineage formation. We show that Barc is required for the generation of neurons during Drosophila brain development by ensuring correct neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Barc associates with components of the U2 small nuclear ribonucleic proteins (snRNP), and its depletion causes alternative splicing in form of intron retention in a subset of genes. Using bioinformatics analysis and a cell culture based splicing assay, we found that Barc dependent introns share three major traits: they are short, GC rich and have weak 3’ splice sites. Our results show that Barc, together with the U2snRNP, plays an important role in regulating neural stem cell lineage progression during brain development and facilitates correct splicing of a subset of introns.
Project description:Differential gene transcription enables development and homeostasis in all animals and is regulated by two major classes of distal cis-regulatory DNA elements (CREs), enhancers and silencers. While enhancers have been thoroughly characterized, the properties and mechansisms of silencers remain largely unknown. By an unbiased genome-wide functional screen in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells, we discover a class of silencers that bind one of three transcription factors (TFs) and are generally not included in chromatin-defined CRE catalogs, as they mostly lack detectable DNA accessibility. The silencer-binding TF CG11247, which we term Saft, safeguards cell fate decisions in vivo and functions via a highly-conserved domain we term ZAC and the corepressor G9a, independently of G9a’s H3K9-methyltransferase activity. Overall, our identification of silencers with unexpected properties and mechanisms has important implications for the understanding and future study of repressive CREs, as well as the functional annotation of animal genomes.
Project description:PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a class of small RNAs that guide transposon silencing in animals, are processed in the cytoplasm from RNA Polymerase II transcripts. How piRNA precursors, which often lack RNA maturation signatures and thereby violate quality control checkpoints, achieve nuclear export is unknown. Here, we uncover a germline-specific RNA export pathway in Drosophila, that escorts piRNA precursors from their heterochromatic origins to nuage, the cytoplasmic piRNA processing centres. This pathway connects canonical nuclear export factors—the RNA helicase UAP56, the NXF cofactor Nxt1/p15, and the exportin Crm1/Xpo1—with Nxf3, a variant of the mRNA exporter Nxf1/Tap. Nxf3 recruitment to nascent piRNA precursors occurs via the heterochromatin protein 1-variant Rhino and CG13741/Bootlegger, a new piRNA pathway factor, thereby making piRNA precursor export independent of RNA processing events. Thus, similar to retroviral hijacking of cellular export factors, piRNA precursor export evolved to bend canonical gene expression rules through bypassing nuclear RNA surveillance mechanisms.
Project description:Nuclear Argonaute proteins, guided by their bound small RNAs, orchestrate heterochromatin formation at transposon insertions and repetitive genomic loci. The molecular mechanisms that, besides recruiting heterochromatin effector proteins, are required for this silencing process are poorly understood. Here, we show that the SFiNX complex, the central silencing mediator downstream of nuclear Piwi-piRNA complexes in Drosophila, enables co-transcriptional silencing via the formation of molecular condensates. Condensate formation is stimulated by nucleic acid binding and requires SFiNX to form a homodimer. The dynein light chain dLC8, a highly conserved dimerization hub protein, mediates homo-dimerization of SFiNX. Point mutations preventing dLC8-mediated SFiNX dimerization result in transposon de-repression and sterility. dLC8’s function can be bypassed with a heterologous dimerization domain, suggesting that dimerization is a constitutive rather than a regulated feature of SFiNX. We propose that nucleic-acid stimulated condensate formation enables co-transcriptional silencing through the retention of the target RNA at chromatin, thereby allowing effector proteins to establish heterochromatin at the target locus.
Project description:Interactions between sperm and the female reproductive tract (FRT) are critical to fertility, but knowledge of the molecular mechanisms by which the FRT interacts with sperm and influences sperm fate remains limited. Here, we used sex-specific isotopic labeling to identify female-derived proteins that contribute to the sperm proteome after long-term storage in the female’s sperm storage organs. In combination with whole-cell quantitative proteomics to track the protein composition of sperm across three female reproductive tissues (bursa, seminal receptacle, and spermatheca) and three post-mating timepoints (30 minutes, 2 hours, and 4 days), as well as an expansion of the seminal vesicle sperm proteome, our data provide a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of the molecular life history of Drosophila sperm.