Project description:Cross-talk between DNA methylation and histone modifications drives the establishment of composite epigenetic signatures and is traditionally studied using correlative rather than direct approaches. Here we present sequential ChIP-bisulfite-sequencing (ChIP- BS-seq) as an approach to quantitatively assess DNA methylation patterns associated with chromatin modifications or chromatin-associated factors directly. A chromatin- immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-capturing step is used to obtain a restricted representation of the genome occupied by the epigenetic feature of interest, for which a single-base resolution DNA methylation map is then generated. When applied to H3 lysine 27 tri- methylation (H3K27me3), we found that H3K27me3 and DNA methylation are compatible throughout most of the genome, except for CpG islands, where these two marks are mutually exclusive. Further ChIP-BS-seq-based analysis in Dnmt triple- knock-out (TKO) embryonic stem cells revealed that total loss of CpG methylation is associated with alteration of H3K27me3 levels throughout the genome: H3K27me3 in localized peaks is decreased while broad local enrichments (BLOCs) of H3K27me3 are formed. At an even broader scale, these BLOCs correspond to regions of high DNA methylation in wild-type ES cells, suggesting that DNA methylation prevents H3K27me3 deposition locally and at megabase scale. Our strategy provides an unique way of investigating global interdependencies between DNA methylation and other chromatin features. ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation) is followed by bisulfite conversion and deep sequencing to directly assess DNA methylation levels in captured chromatin fragments (ChIP-BS-seq). We used ChIP-BS-seq to study the potential global cross-talk between H3K27me3 and DNA methylation, which are both linked to repression. First, we used capturing of methylated DNA, followed by bisulfite-deep sequencing (MethylCap-BS-seq). Genomic DNA isolated from normal and tumor colon tissues was used for MethylCap-BS-seq as well as for conventional MethylCap-seq experiments. Second, we performed ChIP-BS-seq on H3K27me3, using HCT116 colon carcinoma cells. Third, to further study the relevance of the observations, we generated genome-wide profiles for H3K27me3 and DNA methylation by conventional ChIP-seq and MethylCap-seq, and RNA-seq, respectively. Finally, we performed H3K27me3-ChIP-BS-seq and MethylCap-seq on wild-type mouse ES cells as well as Dnmt-triple-knockout (TKO) mouse ES cells.
Project description:Double-stranded RNA-binding proteins are key elements in the intracellular localization of mRNA and its local translation. Staufen is a double-stranded RNA binding protein involved in the localised translation of specific mRNAs during Drosophila early development and neuronal cell fate. The human homologue Staufen1 forms RNA-containing complexes that include proteins involved in translation and motor proteins to allow their movement within the cell, but the mechanism underlying translation repression in these complexes is poorly understood. Here we show that human Staufen1-containing complexes contain essential elements of the gene silencing apparatus, like Ago1-3 proteins, and we describe a set of miRNAs specifically associated to complexes containing human Staufen1. Among these, miR124 stands out as particularly relevant because it appears enriched in human Staufen1 complexes and is over-expressed upon differentiation of human neuroblastoma cells in vitro. In agreement with these findings, we show that expression of human Staufen1 is essential for proper dendritic arborisation during neuroblastoma cell differentiation, yet it is not necessary for maintenance of the differentiated state, and suggest potential human Staufen1 mRNA targets involved in this process. Three or four biological replicates per condition were independently hybridized to GeneChip Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0
Project description:Effect of stimulation with IL-1beta and p38 MAPK inhibition with SB203580 or Birb 796 on human articular osteoarthritic chondrocytes
Project description:To study the composition of mRNPs containing TcDhh1, we carried out immunoprecipitation assays with anti-TcDhh1 and epimastigotes lysates. Pre-immune serum was used as control. We also carried out a ribonomic approach to identify the mRNAs present within the TcDhh1 immunoprecipitated complexes. For this purpose, competitive microarray hibridizations were performed against negative controls, the non-precipitated fraction.
Project description:The genome wide ChIP-on-chip analysis to identify the DNA binding sites for the M.tuberculosis sigma factor Rv3286c (SigF) SigF binding sites were determined by microarray analysis of anti-sigF immunoprecipitated DNA from H37Rv(ΔrsbW/sigF)::pmySigF compared to H37Rv(ΔrsbW/sigF)::pMY769 (both cultured with pristinamycin for 3 days). 4 biological replicates were performed.
Project description:Missense mutations in the TP53 gene are frequent genetic alterations in human tumor tissue and cell lines. In contrast to wild-type p53, the mutant p53 (mutp53) protein has lost the transcriptional activity towards pro-apoptotic and growth arrest genes, but retained the property to interact with DNA in a structure-specific fashion. Expression of mutp53 is advantageous for tumor cells, however the molecular mechanism of mutp53 action is still not known. We used the glioblastoma-derived U-251 MG human cell line to analyze DNA binding of mutant p53 (R273H mutation) on a Nimblegen custom 135k tiling array and to correlate mutp53 binding regions with the epigenetic state and occupation by other transcription factors (ETS1 and SP1). We found that mutp53-binding regions are G/C-rich and are located around transcriptional start sites (TSS) of many protein-coding genes, which in most cases are active, but are not always regulated upon transient mutp53 depletion. We propose a model which does not only rely on interactions of mutp53 with diverse transcriptional regulators at active promoters, but primarily is based on a DNA binding activity of mutp53. We designed a Nimblegen custom 135k tiling array that covers a large set of putative and known p53 (wild-type and mutant) target genes in the human genome. For analysis of the epigenetic state of genes covered by the tiling array in control and mutant p53-depleted U251 cells we focused on changes in active histone marks, H3K4me3 and H3K9Ac, and RNA polymerase II recruitment and processivity. H3K4me3 and H3K9Ac marks are enriched in active promoter regions and the phosphorylation of serine 5 (S5-P) and serine 2 (S2-P) in the CTD of RNA polymerase II have been described to define initiated and elongating complexes, respectively. We performed the ChIP-chip experiments for H3K4me3, H3K9Ac, RNA polymerase II (S5-P) and RNA polymerase II (S2-P) from U251 cells transfected with p53-specific siRNA or control siRNA (2 biological replicates each). To analyze binding of mutant p53 to the genes covered by the tiling array we performed mutant p53 ChIP-chip experiments in 4 biological replicates of. In addition, we analyzed the distribution of SP1 and ETS1 binding sites in 3 biological replicates.
Project description:Despite the overwhelming information about sRNAs, one of the biggest challenges in the sRNA field is characterizing sRNA targetomes. Thus, we develop a novel method to identify RNAs that interact with a specific sRNA, regardless of the type of regulation (positive or negative) or targets (mRNA, tRNA, sRNA). This method is called MAPS: MS2 affinity purification coupled with RNA sequencing. As proof of principle, we identified RNAs bound to RyhB, a well-characterized E. coli sRNA. Identification of RNAs co-purified with MS2-RyhB in a rne131 ?ryhB strain. RyhB (without MS2) was used as control
Project description:During ribosomal and transfer RNA maturation, external transcribed spacer (ETS) and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences are excised and, as non-functional by-products, are rapidly degraded. The 3’ETS of the glyW-cysT-leuZ polycistronic tRNA precursor was highly and specifically enriched by co-purification with at least two different small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs), RyhB and RybB. Both sRNAs were shown to base pair with the same region in the 3’ETS of leuZ (3’ETSleuZ). Disrupting the pairing by mutating 3’ETSleuZ significantly increased the activity of sRNAs, even under non-inducing conditions. Our results indicate that 3’ETSleuZ prevents sRNA-dependent remodeling of tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle fluxes and increases antibiotic sensitivity when sRNAs are transcriptionally repressed. This suggests that 3’ETSleuZ functions as a sponge to absorb transcriptional noise from repressed sRNAs. Finally, the fact that RybB and MicF sRNAs are co-purified with ITSmetZ-metW and ITSmetW-metV strongly suggests a much broader phenomenon. Identification of sRNAs co-purified with MS2-ITSmetZW and MS2-ITSmetWV. ITSmetZW and ITSmetWV (without MS2) were used as control