Project description:Immunoediting describes the dynamic sculpting of cancer cells to evade cancer immune control, thereby enabling the development of tumors in an immunocompetent host resulting in the outgrowth of cancer cells with reduced immunogenicity.
Project description:Immunoediting describes the dynamic sculpting of cancer cells to evade cancer immune control, thereby enabling the development of tumors in an immunocompetent host resulting in the outgrowth of cancer cells with reduced immunogenicity.
Project description:Although landscapes of several epigenetic marks are now available for Arabidopsis and rice, such profiles remain static and do not provide information about dynamic changes of plant epigenomes in response to developmental or environmental cues. Here we analyzed the effects of light regulation on four epigenetic histone modifications (H3K9ac, H3K9me3, H3K27ac, H3K27me3). Our genome-wide profiling of H3K9ac and H3K27ac revealed that these modifications are gene-specific. In contrast, we found that H3K9me3 and H3K27me3 target genes, but also intergenic-regions and transposable elements. Specific light conditions affected the number of epigenetically modified regions, as well as the overall correlation strength between the presence of specific epigenetic modifications and transcription. Futhermore, we observed that acetylation is an important contributor to light-regulated genome expression not only through its activating action on HY5 and HYH but also on their downstream targets. We found that dynamic acetylation changes in response to light have a major role in the active regulation of photosynthetic gene expression, while H3K27ac and H3K27me3 are major contributors to light regulation of the gibberellin metabolism. We also identified distinct epigenetic patterns in the epigenome of the photomorphogenic mutant cop1-4, suggesting that COP1 might have a role in the establishment of specific epigenetic modifications. Thus, this work provides a dynamic portrait of the variations in histone modifications in response to the plant’s changing light environment and strengthens the concept that epigenetic modifications represent another layer of control for light-regulated genes involved in photomorphogenesis.
Project description:Replication of the eukaryotic genome occurs in the context of chromatin, a nucleoprotein packaging state consisting of repeating nucleosomes. Chromatin is commonly thought to carry epigenetic information from one generation to the next, although it is unclear how such information survives the disruptions of nucleosomal architecture that occur during genomic replication. Here, we sought to directly measure a key aspect of chromatin structure dynamics during replication â how rapidly nucleosome positions are established on the newly-replicated daughter genomes. By isolating newly-synthesized DNA marked with the nucleotide analogue EdU, we characterize nucleosome positions on both daughter genomes of budding yeast during a time course of chromatin maturation. We find that nucleosomes rapidly adopt their mid log positions at highly-transcribed genes, and that this process was impaired upon treatment with the transcription inhibitor thiolutin, consistent with a role for transcription in positioning nucleosomes in vivo. Additionally, experiments in the Hir1Î background reveal a role for HIR in nucleosome spacing. Using strand-specific EdU libraries, we characterize nucleosome positions on the leading and lagging strand daughter genomes, uncovering differences in chromatin maturation dynamics between the two daughter genomes at hundreds of genes. Our data define the maturation dynamics of newly-replicated chromatin, and support a role for transcription in sculpting the chromatin template. We have mapped changes in nucleosome positions on newly replicated DNA in a timecourse after genome replication. We have used Micrococcal Nuclease footprinting of cross linked chromatin to determine nucleosome positions and EdU (ethylene deoxy uridine) to mark nascent DNA strands. EdU incorporated into nascent DNA strands was biotinylated with Click chemistry and nascent DNA strand fragments were subsequently isolated using Streptavidin coated magnetic beads.
Project description:Peripheral light harvesting (LH) antenna complexes have been studied extensively in the purple nonsulfur bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris because it produces different types of LH complexes under high light intensities (LH2 complex) and low light intensities (LH3 and LH4 complex). The ability of R. palustris to alter its peripheral LH complexes in response to changes in light intensity is attributed to the multiple operons that encode the a and b peptides that make up these complexes, whose expression is affected by light intensity, light quality, and oxygen tension. However, low resolution structures, amino acid similarities between the complexes, and a lack of transcriptional analysis made it difficult to determine the LH complexes composition and functions under different light intensities. It was also unclear how much diversity of the R. palustris LH complexes exists in nature.Results: To gain insight into the composition of the LH complexes, their function under high light intensities and low light intensities, and their prevalence in the environment we undertook an integrative genomics approach using 15 closely related R. palustris strains isolated from the environment and 5 R. palustris ecotypes whose genomes have been sequenced. We sequenced the genomes for the 15 closely related strains and using RNA-seq carried out transcriptomic analysis on all 20 strains grown under high light intensity and low light intensity. We were able to determine that even closely related R. palustris strains had differences in their pucBA gene content and expression, even under the same growth conditions. We also found that the LH2 complex could compensate for the lack of an LH4 complex under LL intensities but not under extremely LL intensities. Conclusions: This is the first time an integrative genomics approach has been used to study light harvesting in the environment. The variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in environmental isolates of R. palustris likely reflects how these strains have adapted to specific light conditions in the environment. We have also shown that there is redundancy between some of the LH complexes under certain light intensities, which may partially explain why multiple operons encoding LH complexes have evolved and been maintained in R. palustris. Examing the variation observed in LH gene composition and expression in various environmental isolates
Project description:We used RNA sequencing to measure genome-wide gene expression in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 grown under dynamic light regimes that mimic the variation in light intensity seen on a Clear Day in nature, or the rapid changes in light intensity that accompany changes in shading We compare these gene expression dynamics to those of a culture grown under a Low Light condition that mimics the standard laboratory conditions used for study of cyanobacteria. Our analysis reveals that naturally relevant light conditions drastically modify gene expression dynamics in cyanobacteria Notably, the expression of circadian clock-controlled genes is responsive to changes in light intensity, showing modulated dynamics that can allow cyanobacteria to adapt their metabolism to changing environmental conditions
Project description:Replication of the eukaryotic genome occurs in the context of chromatin, a nucleoprotein packaging state consisting of repeating nucleosomes. Chromatin is commonly thought to carry epigenetic information from one generation to the next, although it is unclear how such information survives the disruptions of nucleosomal architecture that occur during genomic replication. Here, we sought to directly measure a key aspect of chromatin structure dynamics during replication – how rapidly nucleosome positions are established on the newly-replicated daughter genomes. By isolating newly-synthesized DNA marked with the nucleotide analogue EdU, we characterize nucleosome positions on both daughter genomes of budding yeast during a time course of chromatin maturation. We find that nucleosomes rapidly adopt their mid log positions at highly-transcribed genes, and that this process was impaired upon treatment with the transcription inhibitor thiolutin, consistent with a role for transcription in positioning nucleosomes in vivo. Additionally, experiments in the Hir1Δ background reveal a role for HIR in nucleosome spacing. Using strand-specific EdU libraries, we characterize nucleosome positions on the leading and lagging strand daughter genomes, uncovering differences in chromatin maturation dynamics between the two daughter genomes at hundreds of genes. Our data define the maturation dynamics of newly-replicated chromatin, and support a role for transcription in sculpting the chromatin template.
Project description:Replication of the eukaryotic genome occurs in the context of chromatin, a nucleoprotein packaging state consisting of repeating nucleosomes. Chromatin is commonly thought to carry epigenetic information from one generation to the next, although it is unclear how such information survives the disruptions of nucleosomal architecture that occur during genomic replication. Here, we sought to directly measure a key aspect of chromatin structure dynamics during replication â?? how rapidly nucleosome positions are established on the newly-replicated daughter genomes. By isolating newly-synthesized DNA marked with the nucleotide analogue EdU, we characterize nucleosome positions on both daughter genomes of budding yeast during a time course of chromatin maturation. We find that nucleosomes rapidly adopt their mid log positions at highly-transcribed genes, and that this process was impaired upon treatment with the transcription inhibitor thiolutin, consistent with a role for transcription in positioning nucleosomes in vivo. Additionally, experiments in the Hir1-delta background reveal a role for HIR in nucleosome spacing. Using strand-specific EdU libraries, we characterize nucleosome positions on the leading and lagging strand daughter genomes, uncovering differences in chromatin maturation dynamics between the two daughter genomes at hundreds of genes. Our data define the maturation dynamics of newly-replicated chromatin, and support a role for transcription in sculpting the chromatin template. Gene expression array.
Project description:Light is a source of energy and an environmental cue that is available in excess in most surface environments. In prokaryotic systems, conversion of light to energy by photoautotrophs and photoheterotrophs is well understood, but the conversion of light to information and the cellular response to that information has been characterized in only a few species. Our goal was to explore the response of freshwater Actinobacteria, which are ubiquitous in illuminated aquatic environments, to light. We found that Actinobacteria without functional photosystems grow faster in the light, likely because sugar transport and metabolism are upregulated in the light, while protein synthesis is upregulated in the dark. Based on the action spectrum of the growth effect, and comparisons of the genomes of three Actinobacteria with this growth rate phenotype, we propose that the photosensor in these strains is a putative CryB-type cryptochrome. The ability to sense light and upregulate carbohydrate transport during the day could allow these cells to coordinate their time of maximum organic carbon uptake with the time of maximum organic carbon release by primary producers.
Project description:Light is a source of energy and an environmental cue that is available in excess in most surface environments. In prokaryotic systems, conversion of light to energy by photoautotrophs and photoheterotrophs is well understood, but the conversion of light to information and the cellular response to that information has been characterized in only a few species. Our goal was to explore the response of freshwater Actinobacteria, which are ubiquitous in illuminated aquatic environments, to light. We found that Actinobacteria without functional photosystems grow faster in the light, likely because sugar transport and metabolism are upregulated in the light, while protein synthesis is upregulated in the dark. Based on the action spectrum of the growth effect, and comparisons of the genomes of three Actinobacteria with this growth rate phenotype, we propose that the photosensor in these strains is a putative CryB-type cryptochrome. The ability to sense light and upregulate carbohydrate transport during the day could allow these cells to coordinate their time of maximum organic carbon uptake with the time of maximum organic carbon release by primary producers.