Project description:This study elucidates the processes of transcription and translation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae following MTF (Mitochondrial Transcription Factor) expression. We identifed the functional significance of MTF in the translation process through a comprehensive analysis of multi-omics data.
Project description:Translation of an mRNA in eukaryotes starts at AUG in most cases. Near-cognate codons (NCCs) such as UUG, ACG and AUU are also used as start sites at low levels in S. cerevisiae. Initiation from NCCs or AUGs in the 5’-untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs can lead to translation of upstream open reading frames (uORFs) that might regulate expression of the main ORF (mORF). Although there is some circumstantial evidence that the translation of uORFs can be affected by environmental conditions, little is known about how it is affected by changes in growth temperature. Using reporter assays, we found that changes in growth temperature can affect translation from NCC start sites in yeast cells, suggesting the possibility that gene expression could be regulated by temperature by altering use of different uORF start codons. Using ribosome profiling, we provide evidence that growth temperature regulates the efficiency of translation of nearly 200 uORFs in S. cerevisiae. Of these uORFs, most that start with an AUG codon have increased translational efficiency at 37 ˚C relative to 30 ˚C and decreased efficiency at 20 ˚C. For translationally regulated uORFs starting with NCCs, we did not observe a general trend for the direction of regulation as a function of temperature, suggesting mRNA-specific features can determine the mode of temperature-dependent regulation. Consistent with this conclusion, the position of the uORFs in the 5’-leader relative to the 5’-cap and the start codon of the main ORF correlates with the direction of temperature-dependent regulation of uORF translation. We have identified several novel cases in which changes in uORF translation are inversely correlated with changes in the translational efficiency of the downstream main ORF. Our data suggest that translation of these mRNAs is subject to temperature-dependent, uORF-mediated regulation. Overall, our data suggest that alterations in the translation of specific uORFs by temperature can regulate gene expression in S. cerevisiae.
Project description:The formation of condensates in membraneless organelles is thought to be driven by protein phase separation. Arginine methylation and serine/threonine phosphorylation are important in the phase separation process, however these post-translational modifications are often present in intrinsically disordered regions that are difficult to analyse with standard proteomic techniques. Here we use a multi-protease and multi-MS/MS fragmentation approach, coupled with heavy methyl SILAC and phospho- or methyl-peptide enrichment, for the analysis of arginine methylation and serine/threonine phosphorylation, and to understand their co-occurrence in condensate-associated proteins. For Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we report a 50% increase in the known arginine methylproteome, involving 15 proteins that are almost all condensate-associated. Importantly, some of these proteins have arginine methylation on all predicted sites – providing evidence that this modification can be pervasive. We explored whether arginine methylated condensate-associated proteins are also phosphorylated, and found 12 such proteins to carry phosphoserine or phosphothreonine. In Npl3, Ded1 and Ssbp1, single peptides were found to carry both modifications, indicating a co-occurrence in close proximity and on the same protein molecule. We show that these co-modifications occur in regions of disorder and that arginine methylation is typically on basic regions of disorder. For phosphorylation, its association with charged regions of condensate-associated proteins was less consistent, although some regions with multisite phosphorylation sites were strongly acidic. We conclude that arginine-methylated proteins associated with condensates are typically co-modified with protein phosphorylation.
Project description:Cytoplasmic RNA granules compartmentalize phases of the translation cycle in eukaryotes. We previously reported the localization of oxidized RNA to cytoplasmic foci called oxidized RNA bodies (ORBs) in human cells. We show here that ORBs are RNA granules in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several lines of evidence support a role of ORBs in the compartmentalization of no-go decay and ribosome quality control, the translation quality control pathways that recognize and clear aberrant mRNAs, including those with oxidized bases. Translation is required by these pathways and ORBs. Translation quality control factors localize to ORBs. A substrate of translation quality control, a stalled mRNA-ribosome-nascent chain complex, localizes to ORBS. Translation quality control mutants have altered ORB numbers, sizes, or both. In addition, we identify 68 ORB proteins, by immunofluorescence staining directed by proteomics, which further support their role in translation quality control and reveal candidate new factors for these pathways.
Project description:Comparison of translation efficiency in S. cerevisiae, S. paradoxus, and their F1 hybrid. SRA submission number SRP028552; BioProject number PRJNA213844; Ribosome profiling was used to compare mRNA abundance, ribosome occupancy, and translation efficiency in two yeast species and their F1 hybrid.
Project description:Histone modifications play an important role in chromatin organization and transcriptional regulation. Specific combinations of these modifications to the histone tails have been associated with different functional genomic elements: for example, promoters, enhancers and insulators. Despite the enormous amount of genome-wide histone modification data collected in different cells and tissues, little is known about co-occurrence of modifications on the same nucleosome. Here we present a novel, genome-wide quantitative method for combinatorial indexed chromatin immunoprecipitation (Co-ChIP) to characterize the co-occurrence of histone modifications. Using Co-ChIP, we characterize the genome-wide co-occurrence of 15 chromatin marks (70 pairwise combinations), and find unexpected dynamics between the different marks, including co-occurrence of H3K9me1-H3K27ac in super-enhancers. Finally, we apply Co-ChIP to characterize the distribution of the bivalent H3K4me3-H3K27me3 domain in distinct mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) states as well as in four adult tissues. We observe dynamic changes in 5786 regions and discover both loss and de novo gain of bivalency in key tissue-specific regulatory genes, suggesting a crucial role for bivalent domains following development. Taken together, we demonstrate that Co-ChIP enables routine single molecule characterization of histone mark co-occurrence and probes the previously hidden dynamic interactions of histone modifications.
Project description:During lagging-strand synthesis, strand-displacement synthesis by DNA polymerase delta (Pol ∂), coupled to nucleolytic cleavage of DNA flap structures, combine to produce a nick translation reaction that replaces the DNA at the 5’ end of the preceding Okazaki fragment. Previous work following depletion of DNA ligase I in Saccharomyces cerevisae suggests that DNA-bound proteins, principally nucleosomes and the transcription factors Abf1/Rap1/Reb1, pose a barrier to Pol ∂ synthesis and thereby limit the extent of nick translation in vivo. However, the extended ligase depletion required for these experiments could lead to ongoing, non-physiological nick translation. Here, we investigate nick translation by analyzing Okazaki fragments purified after transient nuclear depletion of DNA ligase I in synchronized or asynchronous S. cerevisiae cultures. We observe that, even with a short ligase depletion, Okazaki fragment termini are enriched around nucleosomes and Abf1/Reb1/Rap1 binding sites. However protracted ligase depletion leads to a global change in the location of these termini, moving them towards nucleosome dyads from a more upstream location and further enriching termini at Abf1/Reb1/Rap1 binding sites. Additionally, we observe an under-representation of DNA derived from DNA polymerase alpha – the polymerase that initiates Okazaki fragment synthesis – around the sites of Okazaki termini obtained from transient ligase depletion. Our data suggest that, while nucleosomes and transcription factors do limit strand-displacement synthesis by Pol ∂ in vivo, post-replicative nick translation can occur at unligated Okazaki fragment termini such that previous analyses represent an overestimate of the extent of nick translation occurring during normal lagging-strand synthesis.