Project description:Protein methylation catalyzed by SAM-dependent methyltransferase represents a major PTM involved in important biological processes. Because methylation can occur on nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur centers and multiple methylation states exist on the nitrogen centers, methylproteome remains poorly documented. Here we present the methylation by isotope labeled SAM (MILS) strategy for a highly-confident analysis of the methylproteome of the SAM-auxotrophic Saccharomyces cerevisiae based on the online multidimensional μHPLC/MS/MS technology. We identified 117 methylated proteins, containing 182 methylation events associated with 174 methylation sites. About 90% of these methylation events were previously unknown. Our results indicated, 1) over 6% of the yeast proteome are methylated, 2) the amino acid residue preference of protein methylation follows the order Lys >> Arg > Asp > Glu ≈ Gln ≈ Asp > His > Cys, 3) the methylation state on nitrogen center is largely exclusive, and 4) the methylated proteins are located mainly in nucleus/ribosome associated with translation/transcription and DNA/RNA processing. Our dataset is the most comprehensive methylproteome known-to-date of all living organisms, and should significantly contribute to the field of protein methylation and related research.
Project description:Microprocessor initiates processing of microRNAs (miRNAs) from hairpin regions of primary transcripts (pri-miRNAs). Pri-miRNAs often contain multiple miRNA hairpins, and this clustered arrangement can assist processing of otherwise defective hairpins. We find that miR-451, which derives from a hairpin with a suboptimal terminal loop and a suboptimal stem length, accumulates to 40-fold higher levels when clustered with a helper hairpin. This phenomenon tolerates changes in hairpin order, linker lengths, and the identities of the helper hairpin, the recipient hairpin, the linker-sequence, and the RNA polymerase that transcribes the hairpins. It can act reciprocally and need not occur co-transcriptionally. It requires Microprocessor recognition of the helper hairpin and linkage of the two hairpins, yet predominantly manifests after helper-hairpin processing. It also requires Enhancer of Rudimentary Homology (ERH), which copurifies with Microprocessor and can dimerize and interact with other proteins that can dimerize, suggesting a model in which Microprocessor recruits another Microprocessor.
Project description:Transcription factors orchestrate gene expression through a myriad of complex mechanisms, encompassing collaborations with other transcription factors and the formation of multimeric complexes. The chromatin-binding protein SAMD1 [sterile alpha motif (SAM) domain-containing protein 1] binds to unmethylated CpG-rich DNA utilizing its N-terminal winged-helix (WH) domain. Additionally, its C-terminal SAM domain, which mediates interactions with itself and with L3MBTL3, is crucial for chromatin binding. The precise role of the SAM domain in this process remains unclear. Using structural analyses, we elucidated the distinct homopolymerization modes within the SAM domains of L3MBTL3 and SAMD1, alongside their heterodimerization architecture. Interestingly, SAMD1 necessitates not only the WH and SAM domain but also a proline/alanine-rich intrinsically disordered region (IDR) for efficient chromatin binding. The IDR is essential for the ability of SAMD1 to form large polymers, with its functionality determined by integrity rather than the specific sequence. Mutagenesis studies underscore the critical role of arginines within the IDR for polymerization, chromatin binding, and the biological function of SAMD1. These findings propose a model in which structured and unstructured regions of SAMD1 cooperate in a coordinated fashion to facilitate chromatin binding. This work provides new insights into the diverse mechanisms transcription factors employ to interact with chromatin and regulate gene expression.
Project description:Background: Recent studies have demonstrated that antisense transcription is pervasive in budding yeasts and is conserved between Saccharomyces cerevisiae and S. paradoxus. While studies have examined antisense transcripts of S. cerevisiae for inverse transcription in stationary phase and stress conditions, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of the conditional specific evolutionary characteristics of antisense transcription between yeasts. Here we attempt to decipher the evolutionary relationship of antisense transcription of S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus cultured in mid log, early stationary phase, and heat shock conditions. Results: Massively parallel sequencing of sequence strand-specific cDNA library was performed from RNA isolated from S. cerevisiae and S. paradoxus cells at mid log, stationary phase and heat shock conditions. We performed this analysis using a stringent set of sense ORF transcripts and non-coding antisense transcripts that were expressed in all the three conditions, as well as in both species. We found the divergence of the condition specific anti-sense transcription levels is higher than that in condition specific sense transcription levels, suggesting that antisense transcription played a potential role in adapting to different conditions. Furthermore, 43% of sense-antisense pairs demonstrated inverse transcription in either stationary phase or heat shock conditions relative to the mid log conditions. In addition, a large part of sense-antisense pairs (67%), which demonstrated inverse transcription, were highly conserved between the two species. Our results were also concordant with known functional analyses from previous studies and with the evidence from mechanistic experiments of role of individual genes. Conclusions: This study provides a comprehensive picture of the role of antisense transcription mediating sense transcription in different conditions across yeast species. We can conclude from our findings that antisense regulation could act like an on-off switch on sense regulation in different conditions.