The role of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe gar2 protein in nucleolar structure and function depends on the concerted action of its highly charged N terminus and its RNA-binding domains.

Nonribosomal nucleolar protein gar2 is required for 18S rRNA and 40S ribosomal subunit production in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We have investigated the consequences of the absence of each structural domain of gar2 on cell growth, 18S rRNA production, and nucleolar structure. Deletion of gar2 RNA-binding domains (RBDs) causes stronger inhibition of growth and 18S rRNA accumulation than the absence of the whole protein, suggesting that other factors may be titrated by its remaining N-terminal basic/acidic serine-rich domain. These drastic functional defects correlate with striking nucleolar hypertrophy. Point mutations in the conserved RNP1 motifs of gar2 RBDs supposed to inhibit RNA-protein interactions are sufficient to induce severe nucleolar modifications but only in the presence of the N-terminal domain of the protein. Gar2 and its mutants also distribute differently in glycerol gradients: gar2 lacking its RBDs is found either free or assembled into significantly larger complexes than the wild-type protein. We propose that gar2 helps the assembly on rRNA of factors necessary for 40S subunit synthesis by providing a physical link between them. These factors may be recruited by the N-terminal domain of gar2 and may not be released if interaction of gar2 with rRNA is impaired.

Escherichia coli cell division inhibitor DicF-RNA of the dicB operon. Evidence for its generation in vivo by transcription termination and by RNase III and RNase E-dependent processing.

We have established that the long non-coding intercistronic region of the dicB operon of Escherichia coli expresses a trans-acting division inhibitor specified by a region dicF, at most 65 nucleotides-long. The present study deals with the processing of dicBF operon mRNA in vivo, and identifies the dicF gene product as a 53 nucleotide RNA species. A sequence at the end of DicF resembles, and behaves as, a Rho-independent terminator, but further processing of readthrough transcripts, presumably by RNase III, followed by a limited 3' to 5' degradation, appears to generate additional DicF-RNA 3' ends. For the 5' end of DicF-RNA, our results show that a 190 nucleotide precursor DicF-RNA species is formed by cleavage at an RNase III site, while the 53 nucleotide minimal DicF-RNA is generated by further processing requiring the presence of an active form of RNase E in vivo. These data indicate that an untranslated product derived from an operon RNA can have a regulatory activity by affecting cell division.

Structural and functional analysis of the nucleolus of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Yeasts are an attractive model for the study of ribosome synthesis. However, our understanding of the relationship between the structure and function of the yeast nucleolus, in which preribosomal particles are synthesized, requires further investigations using microscopic approaches and in situ molecular biology. Combining cryofixation and cryosubstitution of Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we could identify morphologically distinct substructures in the nucleolus similar to the components of nucleoli of higher eukaryotes such as the fibrillar centers (FCs), the dense fibrillar component (DFC) and the granular component (GC). We complemented this morphological study by performing in situ hybridization and immunocytochemistry at the electron microscopy level. Using a probe complementary to the entire rRNA transcription unit of S. pombe, we detected rDNA at the periphery of the FCs, while immunocytochemistry with antibodies specific for the RNA polymerase I and the gar1 protein provided evidence that transcription and early steps of maturation take place in the DFC that extends throughout the nucleolus. We also present evidence that preribosomal subunits may be exported along tracks to the cytoplasm through all of the pores of the nuclear envelope and not just those in the portion of the envelope close to the nucleolus.

Primary hematopoietic cells from DBA patients with mutations in RPL11 and RPS19 genes exhibit distinct erythroid phenotype in vitro.

Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA) is caused by aberrant ribosomal biogenesis due to ribosomal protein (RP) gene mutations. To develop mechanistic understanding of DBA pathogenesis, we studied CD34⁺ cells from peripheral blood of DBA patients carrying RPL11 and RPS19 ribosomal gene mutations and determined their ability to undergo erythroid differentiation in vitro. RPS19 mutations induced a decrease in proliferation of progenitor cells, but the terminal erythroid differentiation was normal with little or no apoptosis. This phenotype was related to a G0/G1 cell cycle arrest associated with activation of the p53 pathway. In marked contrast, RPL11 mutations led to a dramatic decrease in progenitor cell proliferation and a delayed erythroid differentiation with a marked increase in apoptosis and G0/G1 cell cycle arrest with activation of p53. Infection of cord blood CD34⁺ cells with specific short hairpin (sh) RNAs against RPS19 or RPL11 recapitulated the two distinct phenotypes in concordance with findings from primary cells. In both cases, the phenotype has been reverted by shRNA p53 knockdown. These results show that p53 pathway activation has an important role in pathogenesis of DBA and can be independent of the RPL11 pathway. These findings shed new insights into the pathogenesis of DBA.

Division inhibition gene dicF of Escherichia coli reveals a widespread group of prophage sequences in bacterial genomes.

The genomes of various eubacteria were analyzed by Southern blot hybridization to detect sequences related to the segment of the defective lambdoid prophage Kim which encodes DicF RNA, an antisense inhibitor of cell division gene ftsZ in Escherichia coli K-12. Among the homologous sequences found, one fragment from E. coli B, similar to a piece of Rac prophage, and two fragments from Shigella flexneri were cloned and sequenced. dicF-like elements similar to transcriptional terminators were found in each sequence, but unlike dicF these had no effect on division in E. coli K-12. Like dicF, these sequences are flanked by secondary structures which form potential sites for RNase III recognition. Coding sequences located upstream from the dicF-like feature in E. coli B are related to gene sieB of bacteriophage lambda, while sequences downstream of the S. flexneri elements are similar to the immunity region of satellite bacteriophage P4. Under hybridization conditions in which only strong sequence homologies were detected in E. coli B and S. flexneri, the genomes of a large variety of microorganisms, including some gram-positive bacteria, hybridized to the dicF probe. Our results suggest that dicF and its flanking regions are markers of a widespread family of prophage-like elements of different origins.

Mitosis-specific phosphorylation of gar2, a fission yeast nucleolar protein structurally related to nucleolin.

The nucleolar protein gar2 of fission yeast is structurally related to the multifunctional nucleolar protein nucleolin from vertebrates and has been shown to be implicated in production of 18S rRNA. gar2 contains several potential casein kinase 2 (CK2) phosphorylation sites and a single putative p34(cdc2 )phosphorylation site in the consensus S50PKK. Here, we show that, like nucleolin, gar2 is phosphorylated in vitro by both highly purified CK2 from CHO cells and p34(cdc2 )from starfish oocytes. Moreover, the substitution of alanine for the N-terminal serine 50 abolishes phosphorylation by p34(cdc2 )in vitro. We also provide evidence that gar2 is phosphorylated in vitro by a p13(suc1)-Sepharose-bound kinase from Schizosaccharomyces pombe extracts that displays cell cycle-regulated activity similar to that of the p34(cdc2(kinase. In vivo 32P labeling of cells indicates that gar2 is a phosphoprotein and that incorporation of phosphate on residue 50 occurs specifically at mitosis. Taken together, these results lead us to propose that gar2 is likely to be an in vivo substrate for the mitotic p34(cdc2 )kinase. However, this posttranslational modification of the gar2 protein does not appear to be essential for normal production of 18S rRNA.

Ultrastructural changes in the Schizosaccharomyces pombe nucleolus following the disruption of the gar2+ gene, which encodes a nucleolar protein structurally related to nucleolin.

The nucleolar protein gar2, from the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, is the functional homolog of NSR1 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and is structurally related to nucleolin from vertebrates. By immunocytochemistry at the electron microscope level, we show that gar2 co-localizes with RNA polymerase I and the gar1 protein along the dense fibrillar component of the nucleolus in a wild-type strain of S. pombe, suggesting that gar2 is involved in the transcription and/or in the early steps of maturation of the ribosomal RNAs. Since the effects of disruption of the gar2+ gene might also shed light on the role of the gar2 protein, we analyzed the ultrastructure of the nucleolus of a gar2-disruption mutant. The nucleolus of the gar2- mutant is dramatically reorganized when compared with that of the wild-type gar2+ strain: a truncated protein containing the NH2-terminus of the gar2 protein is accumulated in an unusual nucleolar "dense body". Our results also suggest that the NH2-terminus might be sufficient for nucleolar localization via interaction with specific nucleolar components and support the hypothesis that gar2 in wild-type S. pombe interacts with nascent pre-rRNA via its two RNA-binding domains in combination with the glycine/arginine-rich domain. We also report that disruption of the gar2+ gene results in a mutant that is defective in cytokinesis and nuclear division.

Competitive recruitment of CBP and Rb-HDAC regulates UBF acetylation and ribosomal transcription.

RNA polymerase I (PolI) transcription is activated by the HMG box architectural factor UBF, which loops approximately 140 bp of DNA into the enhancesome, necessitating major chromatin remodeling. Here we show that the acetyltransferase CBP is recruited to and acetylates UBF both in vitro and in vivo. CBP activates PolI transcription in vivo through its acetyltransferase domain and acetylation of UBF facilitates transcription derepression and activation in vitro. CBP activation and Rb suppression of ribosomal transcription by recruitment to UBF are mutually exclusive, regulating in vivo PolI transcription through an acetylation-deacetylation "flip-flop." Thus, PolI transcription is regulated by protein acetylation, and the competitive recruitment of CBP and Rb.