ALS mutations in the TIA-1 prion-like domain trigger highly condensed pathogenic structures.

T cell intracellular antigen-1 (TIA-1) plays a central role in stress granule (SG) formation by self-assembly via the prion-like domain (PLD). In the TIA-1 PLD, amino acid mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Welander distal myopathy (WDM), have been identified. However, how these mutations affect PLD self-assembly properties has remained elusive. In this study, we uncovered the implicit pathogenic structures caused by the mutations. NMR analysis indicated that the dynamic structures of the PLD are synergistically determined by the physicochemical properties of amino acids in units of five residues. Molecular dynamics simulations and three-dimensional electron crystallography, together with biochemical assays, revealed that the WDM mutation E384K attenuated the sticky properties, whereas the ALS mutations P362L and A381T enhanced the self-assembly by inducing ß-sheet interactions and highly condensed assembly, respectively. These results suggest that the P362L and A381T mutations increase the likelihood of irreversible amyloid fibrillization after phase-separated droplet formation, and this process may lead to pathogenicity.

Conformational Space Sampled by Domain Reorientation of Linear Diubiquitin Reflected in Its Binding Mode for Target Proteins.

Linear polyubiquitin chains regulate diverse signaling proteins, in which the chains adopt various conformations to recognize different target proteins. Thus, the structural plasticity of the chains plays an important role in controlling the binding events. Herein, paramagnetic NMR spectroscopy is employed to explore the conformational space sampled by linear diubiquitin, a minimal unit of linear polyubiquitin, in its free state. Rigorous analysis of the data suggests that, regarding the relative positions of the ubiquitin units, particular regions of conformational space are preferentially sampled by the molecule. By combining these results with further data collected for charge-reversal derivatives of linear diubiquitin, structural insights into the factors underlying the binding events of linear diubiquitin are obtained.

Intrinsic nucleic acid-binding activity of Chp1 chromodomain is required for heterochromatic gene silencing.

Centromeric heterochromatin assembly in fission yeast requires the RNAi pathway. Chp1, a chromodomain (CD) protein, forms the Ago1-containing RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS) complex and recruits siRNA-bound RITS to methylated histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me) via its CD. Here, we show that the CD of Chp1 (Chp1-CD) possesses unique nucleic acid-binding activities that are essential for heterochromatic gene silencing. Detailed electrophoretic-mobility shift analyses demonstrated that Chp1 binds to RNA via the CD in addition to its central RNA-recognition motif. Interestingly, robust RNA- and DNA-binding activity of Chp1-CD was strongly enhanced when it was bound to H3K9me, which was revealed to involve a positively charged domain within the Chp1-CD by structural analyses. These results demonstrate a role for the CD that provides a link between RNA, DNA, and methylated histone tails to ensure heterochromatic gene silencing.

High-throughput optical quantification of mechanosensory habituation reveals neurons encoding memory in Caenorhabditis elegans.

A major goal of neuroscience studies is to identify the neurons and molecules responsible for memory. Mechanosensory habituation in Caenorhabditis elegans is a simple form of learning and memory, in which a circuit of several sensory neurons and interneurons governs behavior. However, despite the usefulness of this paradigm, there are hardly any systems for rapid and accurate behavioral genetic analysis. Here, we developed a multiplexed optical system to genetically analyze C. elegans mechanosensory habituation, and identified two interneurons involved in memory formation. The system automatically trains large populations of animals and simultaneously quantifies the behaviors of various strains by optically discriminating between transgenic and nontransgenic animals. Biochemical and cell-specific behavioral analyses indicated that phosphorylation of cyclic AMP response element-binding protein (CREB), a factor known to regulate memory allocation, was facilitated during training and this phosphorylation in AVA and AVD interneurons was required for habituation. These interneurons are a potential target for cell-specific exploration of the molecular substrates of memory.

Physical and functional interactions between the histone H3K4 demethylase KDM5A and the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex.

Histone H3K4 methylation has been linked to transcriptional activation. KDM5A (also known as RBP2 or JARID1A), a member of the KDM5 protein family, is an H3K4 demethylase, previously implicated in the regulation of transcription and differentiation. Here, we show that KDM5A is physically and functionally associated with two histone deacetylase complexes. Immunoaffinity purification of KDM5A confirmed a previously described association with the SIN3B-containing histone deacetylase complex and revealed an association with the nucleosome remodeling and deacetylase (NuRD) complex. Sucrose density gradient and sequential immunoprecipitation analyses further confirmed the stable association of KDM5A with these two histone deacetylase complexes. KDM5A depletion led to changes in the expression of hundreds of genes, two-thirds of which were also controlled by CHD4, the NuRD catalytic subunit. Gene ontology analysis confirmed that the genes commonly regulated by both KDM5A and CHD4 were categorized as developmentally regulated genes. ChIP analyses suggested that CHD4 modulates H3K4 methylation levels at the promoter and coding regions of target genes. We further demonstrated that the Caenorhabditis elegans homologues of KDM5 and CHD4 function in the same pathway during vulva development. These results suggest that KDM5A and the NuRD complex cooperatively function to control developmentally regulated genes.

Simplified method for cell-specific gene expression analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans.

In the neural circuit functional identities of individual neurons are mainly specified by their differential gene expression patterns. Unveiling functional roles of each neuron requires cell-specific interrogation of neural circuitry in the context of gene expressions. The mRNA tagging strategy in Caenorhabditis elegans is a powerful technique, in which cell-specific transcripts can be isolated by co-immunoprecipitating the complexes of mRNAs and epitope-tagged poly(A) binding protein (3× FLAG-PAB-1), expressed in target neurons. However, the conventional protocol requires laborious and time-consuming procedures; chromosomal integration of gene encoding 3× FLAG-PAB-1 and bleaching of obtained integrant animals for the isolation of huge amounts of synchronized animals. In this paper, we have presented a simplified methodology for cell-specific mRNA tagging analysis in C. elegans. We show that mRNA tagging was achieved using transgenic animals expressing 3× FLAG-PAB-1 as an extrachromosomal array under the control of the flp-18 promoter, without the chromosomal integration procedure. Furthermore, we successfully isolated cell-specific mRNAs from adult transgenic animals synchronously grown from eggs laid by gravid adults during a time window of 3h. This simplification facilitates the implementation of cell-specific gene expression analysis of C. elegans, which contributes to the understanding of neural circuitry at a cell-specific resolution.

Versatile strategy for isolating transcription activator-like effector nuclease-mediated knockout mutants in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Targeted genome editing using transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 systems has recently emerged as a potentially powerful method for creating locus-specific mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans. Due to the low mutation frequencies, one of the crucial steps in using these technologies is screening animals that harbor a targeted mutation. In previous studies, identifying targeted mutations in C. elegans usually depended on observations of fluorescent markers such as a green fluorescent protein or visible phenotypes such as dumpy and uncoordinated phenotypes. However, this strategy is limited in practice because the phenotypes caused by targeted mutations such as defects in sensory behaviors are often apparently invisible. Here, we describe a versatile strategy for isolating C. elegans knockout mutants by TALEN-mediated genome editing and a heteroduplex mobility assay. We applied TALENs to engineer the locus of the neural gene glr-1, which is a C. elegans AMPA-type receptor orthologue that is known to have crucial roles in various sensory behaviors. Knockout mutations in the glr-1 locus, which caused defective mechanosensory behaviors, were efficiently identified by the heteroduplex mobility assay. Thus, we demonstrated the utility of a TALEN-based knockout strategy for creating C. elegans with mutations that cause invisible phenotypes.

MRG15 binds directly to PALB2 and stimulates homology-directed repair of chromosomal breaks.

PALB2 physically and functionally connects the proteins encoded by the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast and ovarian cancer genes into a DNA-damage-response network. However, it remains unclear how these proteins associate with chromatin that contains damaged DNA. We show here that PALB2 binds directly to a conserved chromodomain protein, MRG15, which is a component of histone acetyltransferase-deacetylase complexes. This interaction was identified by analysis of purified MRG15- and PALB2-containing protein complexes. Furthermore, MRG15 interacts with the entire BRCA complex, which contains BRCA1, PALB2, BRCA2 and RAD51. Interestingly, MRG15-deficient cells, similarly to cells deficient in PALB2 or BRCA2, showed reduced efficiency for homology-directed DNA repair and hypersensitivity to DNA interstrand crosslinking agents. Additionally, knockdown of MRG15 diminished the recruitment of PALB2, BRCA2 and RAD51 to sites of DNA damage and reduced chromatin loading of PALB2 and BRCA2. These results suggest that MRG15 mediates DNA-damage-response functions of the BRCA complex in chromatin.

Balance between distinct HP1 family proteins controls heterochromatin assembly in fission yeast.

Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) is a conserved chromosomal protein with important roles in chromatin packaging and gene silencing. In fission yeast, two HP1 family proteins, Swi6 and Chp2, are involved in transcriptional silencing at heterochromatic regions, but how they function and whether they act cooperatively or differentially in heterochromatin assembly remain elusive. Here, we show that both Swi6 and Chp2 are required for the assembly of fully repressive heterochromatin, in which they play distinct, nonoverlapping roles. Swi6 is expressed abundantly and plays a dose-dependent role in forming a repressive structure through its self-association property. In contrast, Chp2, expressed at a lower level, does not show a simple dose-dependent repressive activity. However, it contributes to the recruitment of chromatin-modulating factors Clr3 and Epe1 and possesses a novel ability to bind the chromatin-enriched nuclear subfraction that is closely linked with its silencing function. Finally, we demonstrate that a proper balance between Swi6 and Chp2 is critical for heterochromatin assembly. Our findings provide novel insight into the distinct and cooperative functions of multiple HP1 family proteins in the formation of higher-order chromatin structure.

RBP2 is an MRG15 complex component and down-regulates intragenic histone H3 lysine 4 methylation.

MRG15 is a conserved chromodomain protein that associates with histone deacetylases (HDACs) and Tip60-containing histone acetyltransferase (HAT) complexes. Here we further characterize MRG15-containing complexes and show a functional link between MRG15 and histone H3K4 demethylase activity in mammalian cells. MRG15 was predominantly localized to discrete nuclear subdomains enriched for Ser(2)-phosphorylated RNA polymerase II, suggesting it is involved specifically with active transcription. Protein analysis of the MRG15-containing complexes led to the identification of RBP2, a JmjC domain-containing protein. Remarkably, over-expression of RBP2 greatly reduced the H3K4 methylation in culture human cells in vivo, and recombinant RBP2 efficiently removed H3K4 methylation of histone tails in vitro. Knockdown of RBP2 resulted in increased H3K4 methylation levels within transcribed regions of active genes. Our findings demonstrate that RBP2 associated with MRG15 complex to maintain reduced H3K4 methylation at transcribed regions, which may ensure the transcriptional elongation state.