Project description:The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the yeast protein, high mobility group protein (Hmo1), in rRNA synthesis. For over twenty years, Hmo1 has been proposed to be an activator of transcription by Pol I, but its regulatory mechanism remains largely undefined. Therefore, we used native elongating transcript sequencing (NET-seq) to explore the role of this factor in transcription by Pol I. Our NET-seq results demonstrated that in cells lacking Hmo1 (hmo1D), Pol I occupancy was significantly increased across the rDNA template, indicating an increased pause propensity in these cells. These data suggest that Hmo1 is an important transcription elongation factor for Pol I.
Project description:Polymerase-associated factor 1 complex (Paf1C) has been identified to promote transcription by Pols I and II and is conserved across eukaryotes. This transcription factor has been well-studied for Pol II, but its role in transcription by Pol I has not been fully characterized. Therefore, the goal of this study was to use a high-resolution technique, native elongating transcript sequencing (NET-seq), to investigate the effect of the loss of two of the five Paf1C subunits (Paf1 and Cdc73) on Pol I occupancy in yeast. Most notably, we found that in both paf1D and cdc73D mutants, there was a significant reduction in Pol I occupancy at the 5’ end of the rDNA template as compared to WT yeast. Overall, our results suggest that Paf1C is an important transcription elongation factor for Pol I.
Project description:DNA topoisomerase-2 and high mobility group protein Hmo1 are known to regulate chromatin architecture by regulating gene boundaries. Here we report how these proteins affect global RNA level after inactivation of Top2 and Hmo1. Our data indicate that inactivating Hmo1 has a drastic effect on transcription levels of 20% yeast genes, however, this phenomenon can slightly be rescued by inactivating Top2 functions. Also, we study the Top2 and Top1 role in nucleosome architecture with and without expressing E.coli TopA. In top2-1;top1∆ condition with TopA expressed, it affects the nucleosome occupancy at the global level compared with top2-1;top1∆-Control plasmid. The ChIA-PET (Chromatin interaction analysis by paired-end tag sequencing) method is used to address whether a specific protein is engaged in the chromosomal interactions. Epitope tagged Top2 protein is used as probe in ChIA-PET experiments to map Top2 mediated chromatin-chromatin interactions.
Project description:In eukaryotic cells, ribosomal RNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase I (Pol I). To initiate transcription, Pol I requires the assembly of a multi-subunit pre-initiation complex (PIC). In yeast, the minimal PIC includes Pol I, the transcription factor Rrn3 and Core Factor (CF) composed of subunits Rrn6, Rrn7 and Rrn11. We have determined the cryo-EM structure of a 18-subunit yeast Pol I complex together with CF, Rrn3 and transcription scaffold. To aid in modeling the structure based on the cryo-EM map, we performed crosslinking mass spectrometry.
Project description:Specialized telomeric proteins have an essential role in maintaining genome stability through chromosome end protection and telomere length regulation. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the evolutionary conserved CST complex, composed of the Cdc13, Stn1 and Ten1 proteins, largely contributes to these functions. Here, we report the existence of genetic interactions between TEN1 and several genes coding for transcription regulators. Molecular assays confirmed this novel function of Ten1 and further established that it regulates the occupancies of RNA polymerase II and the Spt5 elongation factor within transcribed genes. Since Ten1, but also Cdc13 and Stn1, were found to physically associate with Spt5, we propose that Spt5 represents the target of CST in transcription regulation. Moreover, CST physically associated with Hmo1, previously shown to mediate the architecture of S phase-transcribed genes. The fact that, genome-wide, the promoters of genes down-regulated in the ten1-31 mutant are prefentially bound by Hmo1, leads us to propose a potential role for CST in synchronizing transcription with replication fork progression following head-on collisions. The present finding of the existence of extra-telomeric functions for Ten1 in the regulation of RNA polymerase II in cooperation with Stn1 and Cdc13 has profound repercussions on future studies both on telomeric and transcription pathways.
Project description:The goal of this study was to determine the effect of Spt4 on transcription by Pol I in vivo. Therefore, Native Elongating Transcript Sequencing (NET-seq) was used to evaluate the occupancy of Pol I in wild-type and spt4△ strains. We determined that in spt4△ yeast, there was a processivity defect and Pol I accumulated at the 5' end of the 35S gene. Additionally, we observed that there was an enrichment for G-rich sequences just downstream of a high A content in the spt4△ strain, indicating that perhaps Spt4 plays a role in helping to propel Pol I through these regions of the rDNA. Altogether, this study suggests that Spt4 is an important transcription factor for Pol I by promoting polymerase processivity.
Project description:In budding yeast, the selective integration of the Ty1 LTR retrotransposon upstream of RNA polymerase III (Pol III)-transcribed genes requires the interaction between the AC40, a common subunit of Pol III and Pol I, and Ty1 integrase (IN1). The AC40/IN1 interaction involves a short sequence, the targeting domain (TD), present in the C-terminal part of IN1. Chip-seq analysis using WT or mutated Ty1 integrase demonstrated that TD is responsible for the recruitment of IN1 at both Pol I and Pol III-transcribed genes. Moreover, the introduction of the C-terminal residues of Ty1 in the Ty5 retrotransposon, which preferentially integrates in heterochromatin at silent mating loci (HMR and HML) and near telomeres, leads to its retargeting at Pol III-transcribed genes.
Project description:The protein Seb1 from fission yeast contains a conserved CTD-interacting domain (CID) with which it can bind to phosphorylated forms of the Pol II C-terminal domain (CTD) during active transcription. It mainly interacts with Ser2P-CTD but also with Ser5P-CTD. Here, we show the recruitment profile of the protein to chromatin using ChIP-Seq which is mediated mainly via binding to the Pol II-CTD. In addition, it can also interact with nascent RNA via its RNA recognition motif (RRM) domain.