RESUMO
Reprogramming of transcription is critical for the survival under cellular stress. Heat shock has provided an excellent model to investigate nascent transcription in stressed cells, but the molecular mechanisms orchestrating RNA synthesis during other types of stress are unknown. We utilized PRO-seq and ChIP-seq to study how Heat Shock Factors, HSF1 and HSF2, coordinate transcription at genes and enhancers upon oxidative stress and heat shock. We show that pause-release of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is a universal mechanism regulating gene transcription in stressed cells, while enhancers are activated at the level of Pol II recruitment. Moreover, besides functioning as conventional promoter-binding transcription factors, HSF1 and HSF2 bind to stress-induced enhancers to trigger Pol II pause-release from poised gene promoters. Importantly, HSFs act at distinct genes and enhancers in a stress type-specific manner. HSF1 binds to many chaperone genes upon oxidative and heat stress but activates them only in heat-shocked cells. Under oxidative stress, HSF1 localizes to a unique set of promoters and enhancers to trans-activate oxidative stress-specific genes. Taken together, we show that HSFs function as multi-stress-responsive factors that activate distinct genes and enhancers when encountering changes in temperature and redox state.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Ligação a DNA , Fatores de Transcrição de Choque Térmico , Resposta ao Choque Térmico , Estresse Oxidativo , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição de Choque Térmico/genética , Fatores de Transcrição de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Resposta ao Choque Térmico/genética , Estresse Oxidativo/genética , RNA Polimerase II/metabolismoRESUMO
Patients carrying autosomal dominant mutations in the histone/lysine acetyl transferases CBP or EP300 develop a neurodevelopmental disorder: Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome (RSTS). The biological pathways underlying these neurodevelopmental defects remain elusive. Here, we unravel the contribution of a stress-responsive pathway to RSTS. We characterize the structural and functional interaction between CBP/EP300 and heat-shock factor 2 (HSF2), a tuner of brain cortical development and major player in prenatal stress responses in the neocortex: CBP/EP300 acetylates HSF2, leading to the stabilization of the HSF2 protein. Consequently, RSTS patient-derived primary cells show decreased levels of HSF2 and HSF2-dependent alteration in their repertoire of molecular chaperones and stress response. Moreover, we unravel a CBP/EP300-HSF2-N-cadherin cascade that is also active in neurodevelopmental contexts, and show that its deregulation disturbs neuroepithelial integrity in 2D and 3D organoid models of cerebral development, generated from RSTS patient-derived iPSC cells, providing a molecular reading key for this complex pathology.
Assuntos
Proteína de Ligação a CREB , Proteínas de Choque Térmico , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento , Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi , Fatores de Transcrição , Humanos , Proteína de Ligação a CREB/genética , Proteína de Ligação a CREB/metabolismo , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/genética , Proteínas de Choque Térmico/metabolismo , Histonas/genética , Mutação , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento/genética , Transtornos do Neurodesenvolvimento/patologia , Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi/genética , Síndrome de Rubinstein-Taybi/patologia , Fatores de Transcrição/genética , Fatores de Transcrição/metabolismo , Proteína p300 Associada a E1A/genética , Proteína p300 Associada a E1A/metabolismoRESUMO
In mammals the stress-inducible expression of genes encoding heat shock proteins is under the control of the heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1). Activation of HSF1 is a multistep process, involving trimerization, acquisition of DNA-binding and transcriptional activities, which coincide with several posttranslational modifications. Stress-inducible phosphorylation of HSF1, or hyperphosphorylation, which occurs mainly within the regulatory domain (RD), has been proposed as a requirement for HSF-driven transcription and is widely used for assessing HSF1 activation. Nonetheless, the contribution of hyperphosphorylation to the activity of HSF1 remains unknown. In this study, we generated a phosphorylation-deficient HSF1 mutant (HSF1Δâ¼PRD), where the 15 known phosphorylation sites within the RD were disrupted. Our results show that the phosphorylation status of the RD does not affect the subcellular localization and DNA-binding activity of HSF1. Surprisingly, under stress conditions, HSF1Δâ¼PRD is a potent transactivator of both endogenous targets and a reporter gene, and HSF1Δâ¼PRD has a reduced activation threshold. Our results provide the first direct evidence for uncoupling stress-inducible phosphorylation of HSF1 from its activation, and we propose that the phosphorylation signature alone is not an appropriate marker for HSF1 activity.