Project description:The yeast Hsp70 chaperone Ssb interacts with ribosomes and nascent chains to co-translationally assist protein folding. Here, we present a proteome-wide analysis of Hsp70 function during translation, based on in vivo selective ribosome profiling, that reveals mechanistic principles coordinating translation with chaperone-assisted protein folding. Ssb binds most cytosolic, nuclear, and mitochondrial proteins and a subset of ER proteins, supporting its general chaperone function. Position-resolved analysis of Ssb engagement reveals compartment- and protein-specific nascent chain binding profiles that are coordinated by emergence of positively charged peptide stretches enriched in aromatic amino acids. Ssbs’ function is temporally coordinated by RAC but independent from NAC. Analysis of ribosome footprint densities along orfs reveals that ribosomes translate faster at times of Ssb binding. This is coordinated by biases in mRNA secondary structure, and codon usage as well as the action of Ssb, suggesting chaperones may allow higher protein synthesis rates by actively coordinating protein synthesis with co-translational folding.
Project description:The mitochondrial matrix is unique in that it must integrate folding and assembly of proteins derived from nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. In C. elegans, the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) senses matrix protein misfolding and induces a program of nuclear gene expression, including mitochondrial chaperonins, to promote mitochondrial proteostasis. While misfolded mitochondrial matrix-localized ornithine trans-carbamylase (OTC) induces chaperonin expression, our understanding of mammalian UPRmt is rudimentary, reflecting a lack of acute triggers for UPRmt activation. This limitation has prevented analysis of the cellular responses to matrix protein misfolding and the effects of UPRmt on mitochondrial translation to control protein folding loads. Here, we combine pharmacological inhibitors of matrix-localized HSP90/TRAP1 or LON protease, which promote chaperonin expression, with global transcriptional and proteomic analysis to reveal an extensive and acute response of human cells to UPRmt. This response involved widespread induction of nuclear genes, including matrix-localized proteins involved in folding, pre-RNA processing and translation. Functional studies revealed rapid but reversible translation inhibition in mitochondria occurring concurrently with defects in pre-RNA processing due to transcriptional repression and LON-dependent turnover of the mitochondrial pre-RNA processing nuclease MRPP3. This study reveals that acute mitochondrial protein folding stress activates both increased chaperone availability within the matrix and reduced matrix-localized protein synthesis through translational inhibition, and provides a framework for further dissection of mammalian UPRmt. triplicate experiment of 3 conditions (untreated, GTPP treatment, CDDO treatment)
Project description:The mitochondrial matrix is unique in that it must integrate folding and assembly of proteins derived from nuclear and mitochondrial genomes. In C. elegans, the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt) senses matrix protein misfolding and induces a program of nuclear gene expression, including mitochondrial chaperonins, to promote mitochondrial proteostasis. While misfolded mitochondrial matrix-localized ornithine trans-carbamylase (OTC) induces chaperonin expression, our understanding of mammalian UPRmt is rudimentary, reflecting a lack of acute triggers for UPRmt activation. This limitation has prevented analysis of the cellular responses to matrix protein misfolding and the effects of UPRmt on mitochondrial translation to control protein folding loads. Here, we combine pharmacological inhibitors of matrix-localized HSP90/TRAP1 or LON protease, which promote chaperonin expression, with global transcriptional and proteomic analysis to reveal an extensive and acute response of human cells to UPRmt. This response involved widespread induction of nuclear genes, including matrix-localized proteins involved in folding, pre-RNA processing and translation. Functional studies revealed rapid but reversible translation inhibition in mitochondria occurring concurrently with defects in pre-RNA processing due to transcriptional repression and LON-dependent turnover of the mitochondrial pre-RNA processing nuclease MRPP3. This study reveals that acute mitochondrial protein folding stress activates both increased chaperone availability within the matrix and reduced matrix-localized protein synthesis through translational inhibition, and provides a framework for further dissection of mammalian UPRmt. triplicate experiment of 2 conditions (untreated, GTPP treatment)
Project description:The majority of mitochondrial proteins are encoded by the nuclear genome and must be imported into the mitochondria. There are two main paths for mitochondrial protein import: post-translational and co-translational import. Co-translational import couples the translation and the translocation of the mitochondrial proteins, alleviating the energy cost typically associated with the post-translational import relying on chaperone systems. The mitochondrial co-translational import mechanisms are still unclear with few actors identified but none have been described in mammals yet. We thus profiled the TOM20 proxisome using BioID, assuming that some of identified proteins could be molecular actors of the co-translational import in human cells. The obtained results showed a high enrichment of RNA binding proteins close to the TOM complex. However, for the few selected candidates, we could not demonstrate a role in the mitochondrial co-translational import process. Nonetheless, we were able to demonstrate a new mitochondrial localization for nuclear proteins. Besides, additional analyses revealed a negative correlation between the abundance of mitochondrial proteins and their reported half-life. This experimental approach is thus proposed to potentially characterize mitochondrial co-translational import effectors in human cells and to monitor protein entry inside mitochondria with a potential application in the prediction of mitochondrial protein half-life.
Project description:In the process of translation, ribosomes first bind to mRNAs (translation initiation) and then move along the mRNA (elongation) to synthesize proteins. Elongation pausing is deemed highly relevant to co-translational folding of nascent peptides and the functionality of protein products, which positioned the evaluation of elongation speed as one of the central questions in the field of translational control. By employing three types of RNA-seq methods, we experimentally and computationally resolved elongation speed at individual gene level and under physiological condition in human cells. We proposed the elongation velocity index (EVI) as a relative measure and successfully distinguished slow-translating genes from the background translatome. The proteins encoded by the low-EVI genes are more stable than the proteome background. In normal cell and lung cancer cell comparisons, we found that the relatively slow-translating genes are relevant to the maintenance of malignant phenotypes. In addition, we identified cell-specific slow-translating codons, which may serve as a causal factor of elongation deceleration. We sequenced mRNA, translating mRNA (RNC-mRNA) and ribosome footprints in normally growing HeLa cells.
Project description:The rates at which domains fold and codons are translated are important factors in determining whether a nascent protein will co-translationally fold and function or misfold and malfunction. In this study, we develop a chemical kinetic model that calculates a protein domain’s co-translational folding curve using only the domain’s bulk folding and unfolding rates and codon translation rates. We show that this model accurately predicts the course of co-translational folding measured in vivo for four different protein molecules. As part of our chemical kinetic model, we assume that there is steady-state translation kinetics through the time-course of the experiment. To prove that this assumption is valid, we performed Ribo-Seq experiments on two biological replicates of yeast cells to compare their ribosome profiles. For genes with sufficient coverage across the open reading frames in both the replicates, we compare the ribosome profiles from both replicates and see a strong correlation. This implies there is a steady-state and our assumption is valid.
Project description:<p>Cellular senescence affects many physiological and pathological processes and is characterized by durable cell cycle arrest, an inflammatory secretory phenotype and metabolic reprogramming. Here, by using dynamic transcriptome and metabolome profiling in human fibroblasts with different subtypes of senescence, we show that a homeostatic switch which results in glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) and phosphoethanolamine (PEtn) accumulation links lipid metabolism to the senescence gene expression program. Mechanistically, p53-dependent glycerol kinase (GK) activation and post-translational inactivation of Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase 2-Ethanolamine (PCYT2) regulate this metabolic switch, which promotes triglyceride accumulation in lipid droplets and induces the senescence gene expression program. Conversely, G3P phosphatase (G3PP) and Ethanolamine-Phosphate Phospho-Lyase (ETNPPL)-based scavenging of G3P and PEtn acts in a senomorphic way by reducing G3P and PEtn accumulation. Collectively, our study ties G3P and PEtn accumulation to controlling lipid droplet biogenesis and phospholipid flux in senescent cells, providing a potential therapeutic avenue for targeting senescence and related pathophysiology.</p>
Project description:Most RNA processing occurs co-transcriptionally. We interrogated nascent pol II transcripts by chemical and enzymatic probing, and determined how the “nascent RNA structureome” relates to splicing, A-I editing and transcription speed. RNA folding within introns and steep structural transitions at splice sites are associated with efficient co-transcriptional splicing. A slow pol II mutant elicits extensive remodeling into more folded conformations with increased A-I editing. Introns that become more structured at their 3’ splice sites get co-transcriptionally excised more efficiently. Slow pol II altered folding of intronic Alu elements where cryptic splicing and intron retention are stimulated, an outcome mimicked by UV which decelerates transcription. Slow transcription also remodeled RNA folding around alternative exons in distinct ways that predict whether skipping or inclusion is favored, even though it occurs post-transcriptionally. Hence co-transcriptional RNA folding modulates post-transcriptional alternative splicing. In summary the plasticity of nascent transcripts has widespread effects on RNA processing.