ABSTRACT: In order to identify interaction partner of the Drosophila melanogaster TFIIA protein, we have immunoprecipitated an endogenously 3xFLAG-AID tagged TFIIA-L from Drosophila Schneider S2 cells
Project description:We have identified the protein binders of functionally distinct promoters from the Drosophila melanogaster genome using nuclear extracts prepared from Schneider S2 cells
Project description:Nuclear small RNA pathways safeguard genome integrity by establishing transcription-repressing heterochromatin at transposable elements. This inevitably also targets the transposon-rich source loci of the small RNAs themselves. How small RNA source loci are efficiently transcribed while transposon promoters are potently silenced, is not understood. Here, we show that transcription of Drosophila piRNA clusters—small RNA source loci in animal gonads—is enforced through RNA Polymerase II pre-initiation complex formation within repressive heterochromatin. This is accomplished through the TFIIA-L paralog Moonshiner, which is recruited to piRNA clusters via the Heterochromatin Protein-1 variant Rhino. Moonshiner triggers transcription initiation within piRNA clusters by recruiting the TATA box-binding protein (TBP)-related factor TRF2, an animal TFIID core variant. Thus, transcription of heterochromatic small RNA source loci relies on direct recruitment of the core transcriptional machinery to DNA via histone marks rather than sequence motifs, a concept that we argue is a recurring theme in evolution.
Project description:In flowering plants, silencing of transposable elements (TEs) is achieved by the installation of DNA methylation and histone modifications. 24-nt long small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) guide the deposition of DNA methylation through RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM), which can be maintained independently of siRNAs in coordination with H3K9me2. In most angiosperms, RdDM is ubiquitously expressed in vegetative and sexual reproductive tissues. Spirodela polyrhiza (Lemnaceae), represents an exception with low levels of DNA methylation, very low expression of RdDM and near absence of 24-nt siRNAs during its clonal vegetative propagation. Moreover, some components of RdDM, DNA methylation maintenance and RNA silencing are absent from the genome. By investigating the distribution of epigenetic marks on TEs, we show that Spirodela epigenome is shaped by the loss of DNA methylation and H3K9me2 as TEs decay. Nonetheless, such abundant TE remnants remain silenced and marked by H3K9me1. In contrast, scarce, relatively intact TEs display high levels of DNA methylation, H3K9me2 and siRNAs whose patterns resemble those of TEs subjected to RdDM in other angiosperms. Furthermore, despite the absence of DCL2 in duckweeds, Spirodela can produce 22-nt siRNAs, not only from TEs, but from diverse sources of double-stranded (ds)RNA. Our data suggests that RdDM might still be functional during vegetative clonal growth, albeit tissue or developmentally regulated, and highlights the use of alternative models to further understand and explore the diversity of silencing pathways in plants.
Project description:Using CRISPR-Cas9 to tag endogenous remodeler subunits in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells, we demonstrate that developmental gene transcription requires SWI/SNF-type complexes, primarily to maintain distal enhancer accessibility.
Project description:Small RNA silencing pathways protect genome integrity in part through establishing heterochromatin at transposon loci. In animals, this process requires piRNA-guided targeting of nuclear PIWI proteins to nascent transcripts. The molecular events contributing to heterochromatin formation upon PIWI binding to nascent RNA, a transient molecule at chromatin, are unknown. Here, we identify SFINX, a protein complex that is required for Piwi-mediated co-transcriptional silencing in Drosophila. It consists of Nxf2—a variant of the nuclear RNA export factor Nxf1/Tap, the mRNA export co-factor Nxt1/p15, and the Piwi-associated protein Panoramix. In the absence of Nxf2, Panoramix is targeted for degradation and piRNA-loaded Piwi is unable to establish heterochromatin. Consequently, nxf2 mutants exhibit severe transposon de-repression and are sterile. We show that within SFINX, Panoramix connects to the heterochromatin machinery while Nxf2 enables target silencing via nascent RNA. Thus, the Nxf2-Nxt1 heterodimer—despite having originated from core mRNA export machinery—has been repurposed for heterochromatin formation. Our data establish an unexpected link between nuclear small RNA biology and NXF-variants, which are widespread in animal lineages, but mostly lack ascribed functions.
Project description:Stem cells need to balance self-renewal and differentiation for correct tissue development and homeostasis. Defects in this balance can lead to developmental defects or tumor formation. In recent years, mRNA splicing has emerged as one important mechanism regulating cell fate decisions. Here we address the role of the evolutionary conserved splicing co-factor Barricade (Barc)/CUS2/Tat-SF1 in Drosophila neural stem cell (neuroblast) lineage formation. We show that Barc is required for the generation of neurons during Drosophila brain development by ensuring correct neural progenitor proliferation and differentiation. Barc associates with components of the U2 small nuclear ribonucleic proteins (snRNP), and its depletion causes alternative splicing in form of intron retention in a subset of genes. Using bioinformatics analysis and a cell culture based splicing assay, we found that Barc dependent introns share three major traits: they are short, GC rich and have weak 3’ splice sites. Our results show that Barc, together with the U2snRNP, plays an important role in regulating neural stem cell lineage progression during brain development and facilitates correct splicing of a subset of introns.
Project description:Differential gene transcription enables development and homeostasis in all animals and is regulated by two major classes of distal cis-regulatory DNA elements (CREs), enhancers and silencers. While enhancers have been thoroughly characterized, the properties and mechansisms of silencers remain largely unknown. By an unbiased genome-wide functional screen in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells, we discover a class of silencers that bind one of three transcription factors (TFs) and are generally not included in chromatin-defined CRE catalogs, as they mostly lack detectable DNA accessibility. The silencer-binding TF CG11247, which we term Saft, safeguards cell fate decisions in vivo and functions via a highly-conserved domain we term ZAC and the corepressor G9a, independently of G9a’s H3K9-methyltransferase activity. Overall, our identification of silencers with unexpected properties and mechanisms has important implications for the understanding and future study of repressive CREs, as well as the functional annotation of animal genomes.
Project description:Nuclear Argonaute proteins, guided by their bound small RNAs, orchestrate heterochromatin formation at transposon insertions and repetitive genomic loci. The molecular mechanisms that, besides recruiting heterochromatin effector proteins, are required for this silencing process are poorly understood. Here, we show that the SFiNX complex, the central silencing mediator downstream of nuclear Piwi-piRNA complexes in Drosophila, enables co-transcriptional silencing via the formation of molecular condensates. Condensate formation is stimulated by nucleic acid binding and requires SFiNX to form a homodimer. The dynein light chain dLC8, a highly conserved dimerization hub protein, mediates homo-dimerization of SFiNX. Point mutations preventing dLC8-mediated SFiNX dimerization result in transposon de-repression and sterility. dLC8’s function can be bypassed with a heterologous dimerization domain, suggesting that dimerization is a constitutive rather than a regulated feature of SFiNX. We propose that nucleic-acid stimulated condensate formation enables co-transcriptional silencing through the retention of the target RNA at chromatin, thereby allowing effector proteins to establish heterochromatin at the target locus.
Project description:UFMylation mediates the covalent modification of substrate proteins with UFM1 (Ubiquitin- fold modifier 1) and regulates the selective degradation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) via autophagy (ER-phagy) to maintain ER homeostasis. Specifically, collisions of the ER-bound ribosomes trigger ribosome UFMylation, which in turn activates C53-mediated autophagy that clears the toxic incomplete polypeptides. C53 has evolved non-canonical shuffled ATG8 interacting motifs (sAIMs) that are essential for ATG8 interaction and autophagy initiation. Why these non-canonical motifs were selected during evolution, instead of canonical ATG8 interacting motifs remains unknown. Here, using a phylogenomics approach, we show that UFMylation is conserved across the eukaryotes and secondarily lost in fungi and some other species. Further biochemical assays have confirmed those results and showed that the unicellular algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has a functional UFMylation machinery, overturning the assumption that this process is linked to multicellularity. Our conservation analysis also revealed that UFM1 co-evolves with the sAIMs in C53, reflecting a functional link between UFM1 and the sAIMs. Using biochemical and structural approaches, we confirmed the interaction of UFM1 with the C53 sAIMs and found that UFM1 and ATG8 bound to the sAIMs in a different mode. Conversion of sAIMs into canonical AIMs prevented binding of UFM1 to C53, while strengthening ATG8 interaction. This led to the autoactivation of the C53 pathway and sensitized Arabidopsis thaliana to ER stress. Altogether, our findings reveal an ancestral toggle switch embodied in the sAIMs that regulates C53- mediated autophagy to maintain ER homeostasis.