Project description:purpose: investigation the global insights into Sir2-dependent gene silencing on all silent chromatin regions in budding yeast Method: RNA-sequencing Results: the Sir2 binding domain length caused by Sir2 spreading from the chromosomal end is different in each telomere in budding yeast. Expression of most subtelomeric genes increased in the ∆sir2 strain. Some Sir2-regulated subtelomeric genes were positioned within the telomeric Sir2-binding domain, while the others were outside the Sir2-binding domain. In addition, Sir2 was bound to the mating-type loci and rDNA region, and gene expression increased in the ∆sir2 strain. Conclusion: that S. cerevisiae has two modes of Sir2-mediated gene silencing: One is dependent on chromatin binding and spreading of Sir2, and the other is independent of spreading of Sir2
Project description:RNA interference (RNAi) is a gene-silencing pathway that can play roles in viral defense, transposon silencing, heterochromatin formation, and post-transcriptional gene silencing. Although absent from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, RNAi is present in other budding-yeast species, including Naumovozyma castellii, which have an unusual Dicer and a conventional Argonaute that are both required for gene silencing. To identify other factors that act in the budding-yeast pathway, we performed an unbiased genetic selection. This selection identified Xrn1p, the cytoplasmic 5′-to-3′ exoribonuclease, as a cofactor of RNAi in budding yeast. Deletion of XRN1 impaired gene silencing in N. castellii, and this impaired silencing was attributable to multiple functions of Xrn1p, including affecting the composition of siRNA species in the cell, influencing the efficiency of siRNA loading into Argonaute, degradation of cleaved passenger strand, and degradation of sliced target RNA.
Project description:RNAi, a gene-silencing pathway triggered by double-stranded RNA, is conserved in diverse eukaryotic species but has been lost in the model budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We report that RNAi is present in other budding-yeast species, including Saccharomyces castellii and Candida albicans. These species use noncanonical Dicer proteins to generate siRNAs, which mostly correspond to transposable elements and Y´ subtelomeric repeats. In S. castellii, RNAi mutants are viable but have excess Y´ mRNA levels. In S. cerevisiae, introducing Dicer and Argonaute of S. castellii restores RNAi, and the reconstituted pathway silences endogenous retrotransposons. These results identify a novel class of Dicer proteins, bring the tool of RNAi to the study of budding yeasts, and bring the tools of budding yeast to the study of RNAi.
Project description:The eukaryotic genome is divided into chromosomal domains of distinct gene activities. Transcriptionally silent chromatin is found in subtelomeric regions leading to telomeric position effect (TPE) in yeast, fly and man. Silent chromatin generally initiates at defined loci and tends to propagate from those sites by self-recruitment mechanisms implying the requirement for processes preventing ectopic spreading of silencing. Barrier elements that can block the spread of silent chromatin have been documented, but their relative efficiency is not known. Here we explore the dose-dependency of silencing factors for the extent of TPE in budding yeast. We characterized genome wide the impact of overexpressing the silencing factors Sir2 and Sir3 on the spreading of Sir3 and its impact on coding and non-coding transcription. We thus reveal that extension of silent domains can reach saturation. Analysis of published data sets enabled to uncover that the extension of Sir3 bound domains stops at zones corresponding to transitions of specific histone marks including H3K79 methylation that is deposited by the conserved enzyme Dot1. Importantly, DOT1 is essential for viability when Sir3 is in excess indicating that this transition actively blocks Sir3 spreading. Our work uncovers previously uncharacterized discrete chromosomal domains associated with specific chromatin features and demonstrates that TPE is efficiently restricted to subtelomeres by the preexisting chromatin landscape.
Project description:RNAi, a gene-silencing pathway triggered by double-stranded RNA, is conserved in diverse eukaryotic species but has been lost in the model budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We report that RNAi is present in other budding-yeast species, including Saccharomyces castellii and Candida albicans. These species use noncanonical Dicer proteins to generate siRNAs, which mostly correspond to transposable elements and YM-BM-4 subtelomeric repeats. In S. castellii, RNAi mutants are viable but have excess YM-BM-4 mRNA levels. In S. cerevisiae, introducing Dicer and Argonaute of S. castellii restores RNAi, and the reconstituted pathway silences endogenous retrotransposons. These results identify a novel class of Dicer proteins, bring the tool of RNAi to the study of budding yeasts, and bring the tools of budding yeast to the study of RNAi. Employ high-throughput sequencing of endogenous small RNAs from the budding yeasts Saccharomyces castellii, Kluyveromyces polysporus, Candida albicans, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomyces bayanus.