Project description:Multiple gene expression studies have demonstrated that breast cancer biological diversity is associated with distinct transcriptional programs. Transcription factors, because of their unique ability to coordinate the expression of multiple genes, are speculated to play a role in generating phenotypic plasticity associated with cancer progression including acquired drug resistance. Combinatorial libraries of artificial zinc-finger transcription factors (ZF-TFs) provide a robust means for inducing and understanding various functional components of the cancer phenotype. Herein, we utilized combinatorial ZF-TF library technology to better understand how breast cancer cells acquire resistance to a fulvestrant, a clinically important anti-endocrine therapeutic agent. We isolated six ZF-TF library members capable of inducing stable, long-term anti-endocrine drug-resistance in two independent estrogen receptor positive breast cancer cell lines. Comparative gene expression profile analysis of the ZF-TF-transduced breast cancer cell lines revealed a 72-gene cluster that constituted a common signature for the fulvestrant-resistance phenotype. Pathway enrichment-analysis of gene expression data revealed that the ZF-TF-induced fulvestrant resistance is associated with an estrogen receptor negative-like gene set and four unique myb-regulated gene sets. Furthermore, we identified a set of genes strongly expressed in the ZF-TF-induced fulvestrant-resistant cells that was correlated with a lower probability of distant metastasis-free or death-from-relapse-free survival of breast cancer patients. MCF7-R73 cells, a monoclonal MCF7 subline that is highly sensitive to fulvestrant-induced cytocidal activity, underwent retroviral transduction with the zinc finger transcription factor (ZF-TF) activator library or with a control plasmid encoding only the NF-kB p65 activation domain. Both populations of cells were enriched for transduced cells by selecting for growth in puromycin and for fulvestrant-resistant cells by selecting with 100 nM fulvestrant. After 6 weeks of continuous treatment with fulvestrant, hundreds of drug-resistant colonies emerged from the population of cells infected with the ZF-TF activator library. By contrast, as expected, the control MCF7cell line transduced by NF-kB p65-only underwent massive cell death resulting in the complete absence of resistant colonies. DNA encoding the zinc-finger arrays was rescued by PCR from genomic DNA of pooled fulvestrant-resistant cells. The sequences of the ZF-TFs were determined and 46 unique ZF-TF clones identified. These 46 unique ZF-TFs were re-cloned into the retroviral vector and converted into clonal virus stocks that were used to transduce MCF7-R73 cells. These 46 retrovirally transduced cell populations were then challenged with fulvestrant. As compared with the control MCF-238 cells, MCF7-R73 cells transduced with six unique ZF-TFs demonstrated survival and growth in the presence of 100nM fulvestrant.

Project description:Alternaria brassicicola is a successful saprophyte and necrotrophic plant pathogen. Several A. brassicicola genes have been characterized as virulence factors affecting pathogenesis of Brassica species. To study regulatory mechanisms of pathogenesis, we mined 421 genes in silico encoding putative transcription factors in a machine-annotated, draft genome sequence of A. brassicicola. Targeted gene disruption mutants for 114 of the genes with proteins predicted to contain at least one putative zinc-finger domain were produced and functionally analyzed. Six of these genes were associated with pathogenesis. Disruption mutants corresponding to five of the genes were ≥50% less virulent than the wild type. Unexpectedly, the mutants of one gene (designated Amr1) were 100% more virulent. Amr1 is a homolog of Cmr1, a transcription factor previously found to regulate melanin biosynthesis in several fungi. Gene deletion mutants (Δamr1) were created and their phenotypes characterized. The Δamr1 mutants utilized pectin as a carbon source more efficiently than the wild type, were melanin-deficient, and more sensitive to UV light and glucanase digestion. The Amr1 protein was localized in the nuclei of hyphae and in highly melanized conidia during the late stage of plant pathogenesis. RNA-seq analysis revealed that three genes in the melanin biosynthesis pathway, along with the deleted Amr1 gene, were not expressed in the mutants. In contrast, many hydrolytic enzyme-coding genes were expressed at much higher levels in the mutants than in the wild type during pathogenesis. The results of this study suggested that only a small number of transcription factors with zinc finger domains are needed to maintain strong virulence. Furthermore, a gene important for survival in nature negatively affected virulence, probably by less efficient use of pectin. We speculate that the functions of the Amr1 gene are important to the success of A. brassicicola as a competitive saprophyte and plant parasite gene expression profile comparisons between wild type and a transcription factor mutant during the late stage of host infection

Project description:Alternaria brassicicola is a successful saprophyte and necrotrophic plant pathogen. Several A. brassicicola genes have been characterized as virulence factors affecting pathogenesis of Brassica species. To study regulatory mechanisms of pathogenesis, we mined 421 genes in silico encoding putative transcription factors in a machine-annotated, draft genome sequence of A. brassicicola. Targeted gene disruption mutants for 114 of the genes with proteins predicted to contain at least one putative zinc-finger domain were produced and functionally analyzed. Six of these genes were associated with pathogenesis. Disruption mutants corresponding to five of the genes were ≥50% less virulent than the wild type. Unexpectedly, the mutants of one gene (designated Amr1) were 100% more virulent. Amr1 is a homolog of Cmr1, a transcription factor previously found to regulate melanin biosynthesis in several fungi. Gene deletion mutants (Δamr1) were created and their phenotypes characterized. The Δamr1 mutants utilized pectin as a carbon source more efficiently than the wild type, were melanin-deficient, and more sensitive to UV light and glucanase digestion. The Amr1 protein was localized in the nuclei of hyphae and in highly melanized conidia during the late stage of plant pathogenesis. RNA-seq analysis revealed that three genes in the melanin biosynthesis pathway, along with the deleted Amr1 gene, were not expressed in the mutants. In contrast, many hydrolytic enzyme-coding genes were expressed at much higher levels in the mutants than in the wild type during pathogenesis. The results of this study suggested that only a small number of transcription factors with zinc finger domains are needed to maintain strong virulence. Furthermore, a gene important for survival in nature negatively affected virulence, probably by less efficient use of pectin. We speculate that the functions of the Amr1 gene are important to the success of A. brassicicola as a competitive saprophyte and plant parasite

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The Transcription factor FgSfp1 orchestrates mycotoxin deoxynivalenol biosynthesis in Fusarium graminearum

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