Regulatory Programs of B-cell Activation and Germinal Center Reaction Allow B-ALL Escape from CD19 CAR T-cell Therapy.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has led to tremendous successes in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. However, a large fraction of treated patients relapse, often with disease expressing reduced levels of the target antigen. Here, we report that exposing CD19+ B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) cells to CD19 CAR T cells reduced CD19 expression within hours. Initially, CD19 CAR T cells caused clustering of CD19 at the T cell-leukemia cell interface followed by CD19 internalization and decreased CD19 surface expression on the B-ALL cells. CD19 expression was then repressed by transcriptional rewiring. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and single-cell assay for transposase-accessible chromatin using sequencing, we demonstrated that a subset of refractory CD19low cells sustained decreased CD19 expression through transcriptional programs of physiologic B-cell activation and germinal center reaction. Inhibiting B-cell activation programs with the Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor ibrutinib increased the cytotoxicity of CD19 CAR T cells without affecting CAR T-cell viability. These results demonstrate transcriptional plasticity as an underlying mechanism of escape from CAR T cells and highlight the importance of combining CAR T-cell therapy with targeted therapies that aim to overcome this plasticity. See related Spotlight by Zhao and Melenhorst, p. 1040.

Genomic Nucleosome Organization Reconstituted with Pure Proteins.

Chromatin remodelers regulate genes by organizing nucleosomes around promoters, but their individual contributions are obfuscated by the complex in vivo milieu of factor redundancy and indirect effects. Genome-wide reconstitution of promoter nucleosome organization with purified proteins resolves this problem and is therefore a critical goal. Here, we reconstitute four stages of nucleosome architecture using purified components: yeast genomic DNA, histones, sequence-specific Abf1/Reb1, and remodelers RSC, ISW2, INO80, and ISW1a. We identify direct, specific, and sufficient contributions that in vivo observations validate. First, RSC clears promoters by translating poly(dA:dT) into directional nucleosome removal. Second, partial redundancy is recapitulated where INO80 alone, or ISW2 at Abf1/Reb1sites, positions +1 nucleosomes. Third, INO80 and ISW2 each align downstream nucleosomal arrays. Fourth, ISW1a tightens the spacing to canonical repeat lengths. Such a minimal set of rules and proteins establishes core mechanisms by which promoter chromatin architecture arises through a blend of redundancy and specialization.

A NusG paralogue from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Rv0639, has evolved to interact with ribosomal protein S10 (Rv0700) but not to function as a transcription elongation-termination factor.

NusG, a well-conserved protein in all the three forms of life, is involved in transcription elongation and termination, as well as in the process of transcription-translation coupling. The existence of species-specific functional, as well as conformational, divergences in NusG makes it an attractive transcription factor to study, especially if it originates from a pathogen. Here, we report functional and conformational characterizations of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) protein Rv0639 that has been annotated as a homologue of Escherichia coli NusG. Rv0639 failed to complement the in vivo functions of E. coli NusG (Ec NusG) and did not exhibit any signature of a transcription elongation-termination factor. However, it retained the ability to bind to its cognate ribosomal protein S10 (Rv0700). Compared with Ec NusG, Rv0639 possesses unique conformational features characterized by altered secondary structures in the C-terminal domain (CTD), an unusually long and disordered linker region between the N-terminal domain (NTD) and CTD, and a folding of its NTD over its CTD. This unusual folded conformation could have imparted specialized functions to this protein, required to adapt the physiology of Mtb. We speculate that in the absence of a bona fide RfaH, a NusG paralogue that is involved in pathogenicity in E. coli, Rv0639 functions as an RfaH-like factor and is involved in pathogenicity using unidentified ops-like sequences in the Mtb genome. And hence, we reannotate Rv0639 as a paralogue of NusG, instead of a homologue.

Genome-wide mapping of nucleosome positions in yeast using high-resolution MNase ChIP-Seq.

Eukaryotic DNA is packaged into chromatin where nucleosomes form the basic building unit. Knowing the precise positions of nucleosomes is important because they determine the accessibility of underlying regulatory DNA sequences. Here we describe a detailed method to map on a genomic scale the locations of nucleosomes with very high resolution. Micrococcal nuclease (MNase) digestion followed by chromatin immunoprecipitation and facilitated library construction for deep sequencing provides a simple and accurate map of nucleosome positions.

A packing mechanism for nucleosome organization reconstituted across a eukaryotic genome.

Near the 5' end of most eukaryotic genes, nucleosomes form highly regular arrays that begin at canonical distances from the transcriptional start site. Determinants of this and other aspects of genomic nucleosome organization have been ascribed to statistical positioning, intrinsically DNA-encoded positioning, or some aspect of transcription initiation. Here, we provide evidence for a different explanation. Biochemical reconstitution of proper nucleosome positioning, spacing, and occupancy levels was achieved across the 5' ends of most yeast genes by adenosine triphosphate-dependent trans-acting factors. These transcription-independent activities override DNA-intrinsic positioning and maintain uniform spacing at the 5' ends of genes even at low nucleosome densities. Thus, an active, nonstatistical nucleosome packing mechanism creates chromatin organizing centers at the 5' ends of genes where important regulatory elements reside.

A bacterial transcription terminator with inefficient molecular motor action but with a robust transcription termination function.

Molecular motors such as helicases/translocases are capable of translocating along the single-stranded nucleic acids and unwinding DNA or RNA duplex substrates using the energy derived from their ATPase activity. The bacterial transcription terminator, Rho, is a hexameric helicase and releases RNA from the transcription elongation complexes by an unknown mechanism. It has been proposed, but not directly demonstrated, that kinetic energy obtained from its molecular motor action (helicase/translocase activities) is instrumental in dissociating the transcription elongation complex. Here we report a hexameric Rho analogue (Rv1297, M. tb. Rho) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis having poor RNA-dependent ATP hydrolysis and inefficient DNA-RNA unwinding activities. However, compared to Escherichia coli Rho, it exhibited very robust and earlier transcription termination from the elongation complexes of E. coli RNA polymerase. Bicyclomycin, an inhibitor of ATPase as well as RNA release activities of E. coli Rho, inhibited the ATPase activity of M. tb. Rho with comparable efficiency but was not efficient in inhibiting its transcription termination function. Unlike E. coli Rho, M. tb. Rho was capable of releasing RNA in the presence of nonhydrolyzable analogues of ATP quite efficiently. Also, this termination function most likely does not require NusG, an RNA-release facilitator, as this Rho was incapable of binding to NusG either of M. tb. (Rv0639) or E. coli. These results strongly suggest that the ATPase activity of M. tb. Rho is uncoupled from its transcription termination function and this function may not be dependent on its helicase/translocase activity.