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Characterization of Tau95 led to the identification of a four-subunit TFIIIC complex in trypanosomatid parasites

ABSTRACT: RNA polymerase III (RNAP III) synthetizes small essential non-coding RNA molecules such as tRNAs and 5S rRNA. In yeast and vertebrates, RNAP III needs general transcription factors TFIIIA, TFIIIB and TFIIIC to initiate transcription. TFIIIC, composed of six subunits, binds to internal promoter elements in RNAP III-dependent genes. Limited information is available about RNAP III transcription in the trypanosomatid protozoa Trypanosoma brucei and Leishmania major, which diverged early from the eukaryotic lineage. Analyses of the first draft of the trypanosomatid genome sequences failed to recognize orthologs of any of the TFIIIC subunits, suggesting that this transcription factor is absent in these parasites. However, a single putative TFIIIC subunit was recently annotated in the databases. Here we characterize this subunit in T. brucei and L. major and demonstrate that it corresponds to Tau95. In silico analyses showed that both proteins possess the typical Tau95 sequences: the DNA binding region and the dimerization domain. As anticipated for a transcription factor, Tau95 localized to the nucleus in insect forms of both parasites. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays demonstrated that Tau95 binds to tRNA and U2 snRNA genes in T. brucei. Remarkably, by performing tandem affinity purifications we identified orthologs of TFIIIC subunits Tau55, Tau131 and Tau138 in T. brucei and L. major. Thus, contrary to what was assumed, trypanosomatid parasites do possess a TFIIIC complex. Other putative interacting partners of Tau95 were identified in T. brucei and L. major.

INSTRUMENT(S): Orbitrap Fusion Lumos

ORGANISM(S): Trypanosoma Brucei Brucei Leishmania Major Strain Friedlin

SUBMITTER: Ebbing de Jong

LAB HEAD: Santiago Martinez-Calvillo

PROVIDER: PXD045036 | Pride | 2024-01-16

REPOSITORIES: Pride

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Project description:Protein-coding genes in kinetoplastid protists are transcribed from polycistronic arrays, yielding RNA precursors which are processed to form mature transcripts bearing a 5M-bM-^@M-^Y spliced leader (SL) and 3M-bM-^@M-^Y poly(A) tract. Regions of transcription initiation and termination lack known eukaryotic promoter and terminator elements, and current data suggest that transcription is instead regulated predominantly through epigenetic mechanisms. Several epigenetic marks, including histone modifications, histone variants, and an atypical DNA modification known as base J have been localized to regions of transcription initiation or termination in Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi, and/or Leishmania major. Despite this conservation, the phenotypes of base J mutants vary significantly across trypanosomatids, suggesting that the specific epigenetic networks governing transcription initiation and termination have diverged significantly during evolution. In this light, we sought to characterize and compare the roles of the histone variants H2A.Z, H2B.V, and H3.V in L. major. As in T. brucei, the histone variants H2A.Z and H2B.V were shown to be essential in L. major using a powerful quantitative plasmid segregation-based test. In contrast and again similar to T. brucei, H3.V is not essential in Leishmania as H3.V-null lines grew normally, resembled WT, and remained infectious. Using SL-primed RNA-seq, we found that H3.V-null parasites have steady-state transcript levels comparable to WT parasites and display no defects in the efficiency of transcription termination at convergent strand switch regions (SSRs). Our results show a conservation of histone variant phenotypes between L. major and T. brucei, in contrast to the phenotypes associated with the epigenetic DNA base J modification. Total RNA from Four LmjF samples were analyzed using RNA-Seq. One of them is wildtype parasites, one is single knockout for H3V gene and two independent double knockouts for H3V gene.

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Characterization of Tau95 led to the identification of a four-subunit TFIIIC complex in trypanosomatid parasites

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