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123
A bivalent chromatin structure marks key developmental genes in embryonic stem cells, Cell 125
, 2006
"... The most highly conserved noncoding elements (HCNEs) in mammalian genomes cluster within regions enriched for genes encoding developmentally important transcription factors (TFs). This suggests that HCNE-rich regions may contain key regulatory controls involved in development. We explored this by ex ..."
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Cited by 269 (2 self)
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The most highly conserved noncoding elements (HCNEs) in mammalian genomes cluster within regions enriched for genes encoding developmentally important transcription factors (TFs). This suggests that HCNE-rich regions may contain key regulatory controls involved in development. We explored this by examining histone methylation in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells across 56 large HCNE-rich loci. We identified a specific modification pattern, termed ‘‘bivalent domains,’ ’ consisting of large regions of H3 lysine 27 methylation harboring smaller regions of H3 lysine 4 methylation. Bivalent domains tend to coincide with TF genes expressed at low levels. We propose that bivalent domains silence developmental genes in ES cells while keeping them poised for activation. We also found striking correspondences between genome sequence and histone methylation in ES cells, which become notably weaker in differentiated cells. These results highlight the importance of DNA sequence in defining the initial epigenetic landscape and suggest a novel chromatin-based mechanism for maintaining pluripotency.
Common Effects of Acidic Activators on Large-Scale Chromatin Structure and Transcription
, 2004
"... Large-scale chromatin decondensation has been observed after the targeting of certain acidic activators to heterochromatic chromatin domains. Acidic activators are often modular, with two or more separable transcriptional activation domains. Whether these smaller regions are sufficient for all funct ..."
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Cited by 16 (1 self)
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Large-scale chromatin decondensation has been observed after the targeting of certain acidic activators to heterochromatic chromatin domains. Acidic activators are often modular, with two or more separable transcriptional activation domains. Whether these smaller regions are sufficient for all functions of the activators has not been demonstrated. We adapted an inducible heterodimerization system to allow systematic dissection of the function of acidic activators, individual subdomains within these activators, and short acidic-hydrophobic peptide motifs within these subdomains. Here, we demonstrate that large-scale chromatin decondensation activity is a general property of acidic activators. Moreover, this activity maps to the same acidic activator subdomains and acidic-hydrophobic peptide motifs that are responsible for transcriptional activation. Two copies of a mutant peptide motif of VP16 (viral protein 16) possess large-scale chromatin decondensation activity but minimal transcriptional activity, and a synthetic acidic-hydrophobic peptide motif had large-scale chromatin decondensation activity comparable to the strongest full-length acidic activator but no transcriptional activity. Therefore, the general property of large-scale chromatin decondensation shared by most acidic activators is not simply a direct result of transcription per se but is most likely the result of the concerted action of coactivator proteins recruited by the activators ’ short acidic-hydrophobic peptide motifs. Several transcriptional activators contain two or more distinct
Poised transcription factories prime silent uPA gene prior to activation
- PLoS Biol
, 2010
"... The position of genes in the interphase nucleus and their association with functional landmarks correlate with active and/or silent states of expression. Gene activation can induce chromatin looping from chromosome territories (CTs) and is thought to require de novo association with transcription fa ..."
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Cited by 14 (1 self)
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The position of genes in the interphase nucleus and their association with functional landmarks correlate with active and/or silent states of expression. Gene activation can induce chromatin looping from chromosome territories (CTs) and is thought to require de novo association with transcription factories. We identify two types of factory: ‘‘poised transcription factories,’’ containing RNA polymerase II phosphorylated on Ser5, but not Ser2, residues, which differ from ‘‘active factories’ ’ associated with phosphorylation on both residues. Using the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) gene as a model system, we find that this inducible gene is predominantly associated with poised (S5p + S2p 2) factories prior to activation and localized at the CT interior. Shortly after induction, the uPA locus is found associated with active (S5p + S2p +) factories and loops out from its CT. However, the levels of gene association with poised or active transcription factories, before and after activation, are independent of locus positioning relative to its CT. RNA-FISH analyses show that, after activation, the uPA gene is transcribed with the same frequency at each CT position. Unexpectedly, prior to activation, the uPA loci internal to the CT are seldom transcriptionally active, while the smaller number of uPA loci found outside their CT are transcribed as frequently as after induction. The association of inducible genes with poised transcription factories prior to activation is likely to contribute to the rapid and robust induction of gene expression in response to external stimuli, whereas gene positioning at
Nanostructure of specific chromatin regions and nuclear complexes
- Histochem. Cell Biol
, 2006
"... Spatially Modulated Illumination (SMI) microscopy is a method of widefield fluorescence mi-croscopy featuring interferometric illumination, which delivers structural information about nanoscale features in fluorescently labeled cells. Using this approach, structural changes in the context of gene ac ..."
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Cited by 12 (11 self)
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Spatially Modulated Illumination (SMI) microscopy is a method of widefield fluorescence mi-croscopy featuring interferometric illumination, which delivers structural information about nanoscale features in fluorescently labeled cells. Using this approach, structural changes in the context of gene activation and chromatin remodeling may be revealed. In this paper we present the application of SMI microscopy to size measurements of the 7q22 gene region, giving us a size estimate of 105 ± 16nm which corresponds to an average compaction ratio of 1:324. The results for the 7q22 domain are compared with the previously measured sizes of other fluorescently la-beled gene regions, and to those obtained for transcription factories. The absence of a correlation between the measured and genomic sizes of the various gene regions indicate that a high variability in chromatin folding is present, with factors other than the sequence length contributing to the chromatin compaction. Measurements of the 7q22 region in different preparations and at different excitation wavelengths show a good agreement, thus demonstrating that the technique is robust when applied to biological samples.
Nuclear Pore Proteins Nup153 and Megator Define Transcriptionally Active Regions in the Drosophila
"... Transcriptional regulation is one of the most important processes for modulating gene expression. Though much of this control is attributed to transcription factors, histones, and associated enzymes, it is increasingly apparent that the spatial organization of chromosomes within the nucleus has a pr ..."
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Cited by 11 (0 self)
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Transcriptional regulation is one of the most important processes for modulating gene expression. Though much of this control is attributed to transcription factors, histones, and associated enzymes, it is increasingly apparent that the spatial organization of chromosomes within the nucleus has a profound effect on transcriptional activity. Studies in yeast indicate that the nuclear pore complex might promote transcription by recruiting chromatin to the nuclear periphery. In higher eukaryotes, however, it is not known whether such regulation has global significance. Here we establish nucleoporins as a major class of global regulators for gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster. Using chromatin-immunoprecipitation combined with microarray hybridisation, we show that Nup153 and Megator (Mtor) bind to 25 % of the genome in continuous domains extending 10 kb to 500 kb. These Nucleoporin-Associated Regions (NARs) are dominated by markers for active transcription, including high RNA polymerase II occupancy and histone H4K16 acetylation. RNAi–mediated knockdown of Nup153 alters the expression of,5,700 genes, with a pronounced down-regulatory effect within NARs. We find that nucleoporins play a central role in coordinating dosage compensation—an organism-wide process involving the doubling of expression of the male X chromosome. NARs are enriched on the male X chromosome and occupy 75 % of this chromosome. Furthermore, Nup153-depletion abolishes the normal function of the male-specific dosage compensation complex. Finally, by extensive 3D imaging, we demonstrate that NARs contribute to gene expression control irrespective of
Maintenance of Long-Range DNA Interactions after Inhibition of Ongoing RNA Polymerase II Transcription
, 2008
"... A relationship exists between nuclear architecture and gene activity and it has been proposed that the activity of ongoing RNA polymerase II transcription determines genome organization in the mammalian cell nucleus. Recently developed 3C and 4C technology allowed us to test the importance of transc ..."
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Cited by 11 (1 self)
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A relationship exists between nuclear architecture and gene activity and it has been proposed that the activity of ongoing RNA polymerase II transcription determines genome organization in the mammalian cell nucleus. Recently developed 3C and 4C technology allowed us to test the importance of transcription for nuclear architecture. We demonstrate that upon transcription inhibition binding of RNA polymerase II to gene regulatory elements is severely reduced. However, contacts between regulatory DNA elements and genes in the b-globin locus are unaffected and the locus still interacts with the same genomic regions elsewhere on the chromosome. This is a general phenomenon since the great majority of intra- and interchromosomal interactions with the ubiquitously expressed Rad23a gene are also not affected. Our data demonstrate that without transcription the organization and modification of nucleosomes at active loci and the local binding of specific trans-acting factors is unaltered. We propose that these parameters, more than transcription or RNA polymerase II binding,
Bystricky K: Activation of estrogen-responsive genes does not require their nuclear co-localization. PLoS Genet 2010
"... The spatial organization of the genome in the nucleus plays a role in the regulation of gene expression. Whether coregulated genes are subject to coordinated repositioning to a shared nuclear space is a matter of considerable interest and debate. We investigated the nuclear organization of estrogen ..."
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Cited by 11 (2 self)
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The spatial organization of the genome in the nucleus plays a role in the regulation of gene expression. Whether coregulated genes are subject to coordinated repositioning to a shared nuclear space is a matter of considerable interest and debate. We investigated the nuclear organization of estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) target genes in human breast epithelial and cancer cell lines, before and after transcriptional activation induced with estradiol. We find that, contrary to another report, the ERa target genes TFF1 and GREB1 are distributed in the nucleoplasm with no particular relationship to each other. The nuclear separation between these genes, as well as between the ERa target genes PGR and CTSD, was unchanged by hormone addition and transcriptional activation with no evidence for co-localization between alleles. Similarly, while the volume occupied by the chromosomes increased, the relative nuclear position of the respective chromosome territories was unaffected by hormone addition. Our results demonstrate that estradiol-induced ERa target genes are not required to colocalize
Pre-Bilaterian Origins of the Hox Cluster and the Hox Code: Evidence from the Sea Anemone, Nematostella vectensis
"... Background. Hox genes were critical to many morphological innovations of bilaterian animals. However, early Hox evolution remains obscure. Phylogenetic, developmental, and genomic analyses on the cnidarian sea anemone Nematostella vectensis challenge recent claims that the Hox code is a bilaterian i ..."
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Background. Hox genes were critical to many morphological innovations of bilaterian animals. However, early Hox evolution remains obscure. Phylogenetic, developmental, and genomic analyses on the cnidarian sea anemone Nematostella vectensis challenge recent claims that the Hox code is a bilaterian invention and that no ‘‘true’ ’ Hox genes exist in the phylum Cnidaria. Methodology/Principal Findings. Phylogenetic analyses of 18 Hox-related genes from Nematostella identify putative Hox1, Hox2, and Hox9+ genes. Statistical comparisons among competing hypotheses bolster these findings, including an explicit consideration of the gene losses implied by alternate topologies. In situ hybridization studies of 20 Hox-related genes reveal that multiple Hox genes are expressed in distinct regions along the primary body axis, supporting the existence of a prebilaterian Hox code. Additionally, several Hox genes are expressed in nested domains along the secondary body axis, suggesting a role in ‘‘dorsoventral’ ’ patterning. Conclusions/Significance. A cluster of anterior and posterior Hox genes, as well as ParaHox cluster of genes evolved prior to the cnidarian-bilaterian split. There is evidence to suggest that these clusters were formed from a series of tandem gene duplication events and played a role in patterning both the primary and secondary body axes in a bilaterally symmetrical common ancestor. Cnidarians and bilaterians shared a common ancestor some 570 to 700 million years ago, and as such, are derived from a common body plan. Our work reveals several conserved genetic components that are found in both of these diverse lineages. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that a set of
Spatial quantitative analysis of fluorescently labeled nuclear structures: problems, methods, pitfalls. Chromosome Res
, 2008
"... `These authors contributed equally. Key words: confocal microscopy, image quantification, nucleus, preprocessing The vast majority of microscopic data in biology of the cell nucleus is currently collected using fluorescence microscopy, and most of these data are subsequently subjected to quantitativ ..."
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Cited by 10 (1 self)
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`These authors contributed equally. Key words: confocal microscopy, image quantification, nucleus, preprocessing The vast majority of microscopic data in biology of the cell nucleus is currently collected using fluorescence microscopy, and most of these data are subsequently subjected to quantitative analysis. The analysis process unites a number of steps, from image acquisition to statistics, and at each of these steps decisions must be made that may crucially affect the conclusions of the whole study. This often presents a really serious problem because the researcher is typically a biologist, while the decisions to be taken require expertise in the fields of physics, computer image analysis, and statistics. The researcher has to choose between multiple options for data collec-tion, numerous programs for preprocessing and processing of images, and a number of statistical approaches. Written for biologists, this article discusses some of the typical problems and errors that should be avoided. The article was prepared by a team uniting expertise in biology, microscopy, image analysis, and statistics. It con-siders the options a researcher has at the stages of data acquisition (choice of the microscope and acquisition settings), preprocessing (filtering, intensity normalization, deconvolution), image processing (radial distribution, clustering, co-localization, shape and orientation of objects), and statistical analysis.
Role of polycomb proteins Ring1A and Ring1B in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression
- Int J Dev Biol
"... ABSTRACT Generation of cell diversity depends on epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are central components of epigenetic regulation in metazoans. The system, initially associated with transcriptional program stability during development, is also involved in the regulatio ..."
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Cited by 9 (0 self)
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ABSTRACT Generation of cell diversity depends on epigenetic regulatory mechanisms. Polycomb group (PcG) proteins are central components of epigenetic regulation in metazoans. The system, initially associated with transcriptional program stability during development, is also involved in the regulation of other processes, such as maintenance of stem cell pluripotency and cell proliferation. PcG regulation involves chromatin modifications through covalent histone modifi-cations. One of these modifications, the monoubiquitylation of the H2A histone, depends on Ring1 proteins, which are essential for development in insects and mammals. In murine embryonic stem cells, Ring1A and Ring1B-dependent ubiquitylation of H2A is linked to repression of transcrip-tional initiation. Studies in mammalian cells have found a multiplicity of protein complexes containing Ring1A and Ring1B, suggesting an expanded regulatory role for Ring1A, Ring1B proteins in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression. KEY WORDS: Ring1A, Ring1B, polycomb, H2A ubiquitylation, epigenetic regulation Ring1A/Ring1 and its paralog Ring1B/Rnf2 are core components of the mammalian Polycomb system, which is one of the epigenetic regulators of cell diversity generation during embryonic
