Project description:Transcriptional repression of ribosomal components and tRNAs is coordinately regulated in response to a wide variety of environmental stresses. Part of this response involves the convergence of different nutritional and stress signaling pathways on Maf1, a protein that is essential for repressing transcription by RNA polymerase (pol) III in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we identify the functions buffering yeast cells that are unable to down-regulate transcription by RNA pol III. MAF1 genetic interactions identified in screens of non-essential gene-deletions and conditionally-expressed essential genes reveal a highly interconnected network of 64 genes involved in ribosome biogenesis, RNA pol II transcription, tRNA modification, ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis and other processes. A survey of non-essential MAF1 synthetic sick/lethal (SSL) genes identified six gene-deletions that are defective in transcriptional repression of ribosomal protein (RP) genes following rapamycin treatment. This subset of MAF1 SSL genes included MED20 which encodes a head module subunit of the RNA pol II Mediator complex. Genetic interactions between MAF1 and subunits in each structural module of Mediator were investigated to examine the functional relationship between these transcriptional regulators. Gene expression profiling identified a prominent and highly selective role for Med20 in the repression of RP gene transcription following treatments with rapamycin, chlorpromazine and tunicamycin and in post-diauxic cells. In addition, attenuated repression of RP genes by rapamycin was observed in a strain deleted for the Mediator tail module subunit Med16. The data suggest that Mediator and Maf1 function in parallel pathways to negatively regulate RP mRNA and tRNA synthesis. Keywords: genetic modification, stress response We generated 12 microarray profiles from fluor-reversed replicates of wild-type and med20? strains with or without treatment with rapamycin and under 5 other conditions that repress ribosomal protein gene transcription. The effect of rapamycin on strains deleted for 3 other Mediator subunits was also assessed relative to wild-type. See Willis et al., (2008) in revision.
Project description:Nuclear depletion of the essential transcription termination factor Nrd1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae was studied using a combination of RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq of Pol II and PAR-CLIP of Nrd1. The drug rapamycin induces the formation of a ternary complex between a protein of interest, the drug and the small subunit of the ribosome (both proteins are genetically engineered). The small ribosome subunit is transported out of the nucleus. therefore the protein of interest can be depleted from nucleus upon treatment with rapamycin.
Project description:In this study we focus on two Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with varying production of heterologous α-amylase and we compare the metabolic fluxes and transcriptional regulation at aerobic and anaerobic conditions, in particular with the objective to identify the final electron acceptor for protein folding. We found that anaerobic conditions showed high amount of amylase productions when comparing to aerobic conditions and the genome-scale transcriptional analysis suggested that genes related to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), lipid synthesis and stress responses were generally up-regulated at anaerobic conditions. Moreover, we proposed a model for the electron transfer from ER to the final electron acceptor, fumarate under anaerobic conditions.
Project description:In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the kinase Rio1 regulates rDNA transcription and segregation, pre-rRNA cleavage, and 40S ribosomal subunit maturation. Other roles are unknown. Human orthologue RIOK1; which is frequently overexpressed in malignancies, drives tumor growth and metastasis. Again, also RIOK1 biology is poorly understood. In this study, we charted the global activity of Rio1 in budding yeast. By producing and systems-integrating its protein-interaction, gene-transcription, and chromatin-binding maps we generated Rio1's multi-layered activity network, which controls protein synthesis and turnover, metabolism, growth, proliferation, and genetic stability. Rio1 regulates itself at the transcriptional level, and manages its network both directly and indirectly, via a battery of regulators and transcription factors, including Gcn4. We experimentally confirmed the network and show that Rio1 commands its downstream circuit depending on the growth conditions encountered. We also find that Rio1 and RIOK1 activities are functionally equivalent. Our data suggest that pathological RIOK1 expression may deregulate its network and fuel promiscuous transcription and ribosome production, uncontrolled metabolism, growth, proliferation, and chromosomal instability; well-known contributors to cancer initiation, maintenance and metastasis.
Project description:The conserved Snf1/AMPK (AMP-activated protein Kinase) family is one of the central components in nutrient sensing and regulation of carbon metabolism in eukaryotes. It is also involved in several other processes such as stress resistance, invasive growth and ageing. Snf1 kinase is composed of a catalytic α-subunit Snf1, a regulatory γ-subunit Snf4 and one of three possible β-subunits, Sip1, Sip2 or Gal83. We used a systematic approach to study the role of the three β-subunits by analyzing all 7 possible combinations of β-subunit deletions together with the reference strain.