Project description:Nascent RNA-sequencing tracks transcription at nucleotide resolution. The genomic distribution of engaged transcription complexes, in turn, uncovers functional genomic regions. Here, we provide analytical steps to (1) identify transcribed regulatory elements de novo genome-wide, (2) quantify engaged transcription complexes at enhancers, promoter-proximal regions, divergent transcripts, gene bodies, and termination windows, and (3) measure distribution of transcription machineries and regulatory proteins across functional genomic regions. This protocol tracks engaged transcription complexes across functional genomic regions demonstrated in human K562 erythroleukemia cells. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Vihervaara et al. (2021).
Project description:Deep sequencing now provides detailed snapshots of ribosome occupancy on mRNAs. We leverage these data to parameterize a computational model of translation, keeping track of every ribosome, tRNA, and mRNA molecule in a yeast cell. We determine the parameter regimes in which fast initiation or high codon bias in a transgene increases protein yield and infer the initiation rates of endogenous Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes, which vary by several orders of magnitude and correlate with 5' mRNA folding energies. Our model recapitulates the previously reported 5'-to-3' ramp of decreasing ribosome densities, although our analysis shows that this ramp is caused by rapid initiation of short genes rather than slow codons at the start of transcripts. We conclude that protein production in healthy yeast cells is typically limited by the availability of free ribosomes, whereas protein production under periods of stress can sometimes be rescued by reducing initiation or elongation rates.
Project description:EXD2 is a recently identified exonuclease that cleaves RNA and DNA in double-stranded (ds) forms. It thus serves as a model system for investigating the similarities and discrepancies between exoribonuclease and exodeoxyribonuclease activities and for understanding the nucleic acid (NA) unwinding-degradation coordination of an exonuclease. Here, using a single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) approach, we show that despite stable binding to both substrates, EXD2 barely cleaves dsDNA and yet displays both exoribonuclease and exodeoxyribonuclease activities toward RNA-DNA hybrids with a cleavage preference for RNA. Unexpectedly, EXD2-mediated hybrid cleavage proceeds in a discrete stepwise pattern, wherein a sudden 4-bp duplex unwinding increment and the subsequent dwell constitute a complete hydrolysis cycle. The relatively weak exodeoxyribonuclease activity of EXD2 partially originates from frequent hybrid rewinding. Importantly, kinetic analysis and comparison of the dwell times under varied conditions reveal two rate-limiting steps of hybrid unwinding and nucleotide excision. Overall, our findings help better understand the cellular functions of EXD2, and the cyclic coupling between duplex unwinding and exonucleolytic degradation may be generalizable to other exonucleases.
Project description:RNA sequences are expected to be identical to their corresponding DNA sequences. Advances in technologies have enabled deep sequencing of nucleic acids that uncovered exceptions to the one-to-one relationship between DNA and RNA sequences. Previously in human cells, post-transcriptional RNA editing was the only known mechanism that changes RNA sequences from the underlying DNA sequences. Here, we sequenced nascent RNA and found all 12 types of RNA-DNA differences. Using various experimental analyses, we validated this finding. Our results showed that sequences of nascent RNAs within 40 nucleotides of the exit channel of RNA polymerase II already differ from the corresponding DNA sequences. These RNA-DNA differences are mediated by RNA processing steps closely coupled with transcription and not by known deaminase-mediated RNA editing mechanisms nor during NTP incorporation by Pol II. This finding identifies sequence substitution as part of co-transcriptional RNA processing. We sequenced nascent RNA using global run-on sequencing, GRO-seq from human B-cells from two individuals and a variant of the GRO-seq procedure, known as precision run-on sequencing, PRO-seq. The RNAs are prepared after a short run-on assay performed with isolated nuclei in the presence of Br-UTP. The isolated RNAs are base hydrolyzed to ~100 nucleotides and affinity purified with anti-BrU beads three times at each successive step of preparing the RNAs for orientation-specific sequencing using Illumina technology. The 5M-bM-^@M-^Y ~half of each sequence represents nascent RNA made in the cell and the 3M-bM-^@M-^Y ~half represents sequences made in vitro during the run-on reaction. The precision variation, PRO-seq, incorporates one or at most a few biotin-labeled nucleoside triphosphates during the run-on, and sequencing from the 3M-bM-^@M-^Y end of this affinity purified, nascent RNA maps the cellular location of engaged polymerases with near single nucleotide precision. We obtained ~ 100 million 100-nucleotide uniquely mapped GRO-seq reads from B-cells of two individuals. For one subject, we also carried out pGRO-seq and obtained 60 million uniquely mapped reads. In addition, we sequenced ~135 million uniquely mapped RNA-seq reads, and the corresponding DNA of the two individuals to 30X and 60X coverage. Additionally, we isolated and sequenced nascent RNA with an alternate method described by Wuarin and Schibler (1994) in order to compare chromatin-bound RNA to the very nascent RNA from PRO-seq. We obtained ~190 million uniquely mapped reads from chormatin-bound RNA-seq.
Project description:EXD2 is a recently identified exonuclease that cleaves RNA and DNA in double-stranded (ds) forms. It thus serves as a model system for investigating the similarities and discrepancies between exoribonuclease and exodeoxyribonuclease activities and for understanding the nucleic acid (NA) unwinding-degradation coordination of an exonuclease. Here, using a single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) approach, we show that despite stable binding to both substrates, EXD2 barely cleaves dsDNA and yet displays both exoribonuclease and exodeoxyribonuclease activities toward RNA-DNA hybrids with a cleavage preference for RNA. Unexpectedly, EXD2-mediated hybrid cleavage proceeds in a discrete stepwise pattern, wherein a sudden 4-bp duplex unwinding increment and the subsequent dwell constitute a complete hydrolysis cycle. The relatively weak exodeoxyribonuclease activity of EXD2 partially originates from frequent hybrid rewinding. Importantly, kinetic analysis and comparison of the dwell times under varied conditions reveal two rate-limiting steps of hybrid unwinding and nucleotide excision. Overall, our findings help better understand the cellular functions of EXD2, and the cyclic coupling between duplex unwinding and exonucleolytic degradation may be generalizable to other exonucleases.
Project description:One weakness of batteries is the rapid falloff in charge-storage capacity with increasing charge/discharge rate. Rate performance is related to the timescales associated with charge/ionic motion in both electrode and electrolyte. However, no general fittable model exists to link capacity-rate data to electrode/electrolyte properties. Here we demonstrate an equation which can fit capacity versus rate data, outputting three parameters which fully describe rate performance. Most important is the characteristic time associated with charge/discharge which can be linked by a second equation to physical electrode/electrolyte parameters via various rate-limiting processes. We fit these equations to ~200 data sets, deriving parameters such as diffusion coefficients or electrolyte conductivities. It is possible to show which rate-limiting processes are dominant in a given situation, facilitating rational design and cell optimisation. In addition, this model predicts the upper speed limit for lithium/sodium ion batteries, yielding a value that is consistent with the fastest electrodes in the literature.
Project description:RNA sequences are expected to be identical to their corresponding DNA sequences. Advances in technologies have enabled deep sequencing of nucleic acids that uncovered exceptions to the one-to-one relationship between DNA and RNA sequences. Previously in human cells, post-transcriptional RNA editing was the only known mechanism that changes RNA sequences from the underlying DNA sequences. Here, we sequenced nascent RNA and found all 12 types of RNA-DNA differences. Using various experimental analyses, we validated this finding. Our results showed that sequences of nascent RNAs within 40 nucleotides of the exit channel of RNA polymerase II already differ from the corresponding DNA sequences. These RNA-DNA differences are mediated by RNA processing steps closely coupled with transcription and not by known deaminase-mediated RNA editing mechanisms nor during NTP incorporation by Pol II. This finding identifies sequence substitution as part of co-transcriptional RNA processing.
Project description:The ability to predict the mechanisms and the associated rate constants of protein-ligand unbinding is of great practical importance in drug design. In this work we demonstrate how a recently introduced metadynamics-based approach allows exploration of the unbinding pathways, estimation of the rates, and determination of the rate-limiting steps in the paradigmatic case of the trypsin-benzamidine system. Protein, ligand, and solvent are described with full atomic resolution. Using metadynamics, multiple unbinding trajectories that start with the ligand in the crystallographic binding pose and end with the ligand in the fully solvated state are generated. The unbinding rate k off is computed from the mean residence time of the ligand. Using our previously computed binding affinity we also obtain the binding rate k on. Both rates are in agreement with reported experimental values. We uncover the complex pathways of unbinding trajectories and describe the critical rate-limiting steps with unprecedented detail. Our findings illuminate the role played by the coupling between subtle protein backbone fluctuations and the solvation by water molecules that enter the binding pocket and assist in the breaking of the shielded hydrogen bonds. We expect our approach to be useful in calculating rates for general protein-ligand systems and a valid support for drug design.
Project description:Cell-to-cell variability in cellular components generates cell-to-cell diversity in RNA and protein production dynamics. As these components are inherited, this should also cause lineage-to-lineage variability in these dynamics. We conjectured that these effects on transcription are promoter initiation kinetics dependent. To test this, first we used stochastic models to predict that variability in the numbers of molecules involved in upstream processes, such as the intake of inducers from the environment, acts only as a transient source of variability in RNA production numbers, while variability in the numbers of a molecular species controlling transcription of an active promoter acts as a constant source. Next, from single-cell, single-RNA level time-lapse microscopy of independent lineages of Escherichia coli cells, we demonstrate the existence of lineage-to-lineage variability in gene activation times and mean RNA production rates, and that these variabilities differ between promoters and inducers used. Finally, we provide evidence that this can be explained by differences in the kinetics of the rate-limiting steps in transcription between promoters and induction schemes. We conclude that cell-to-cell and consequent lineage-to-lineage variability in RNA and protein numbers are both promoter sequence-dependent and subject to regulation.