Characterization Of Fungal Fimbriae

Fungal fimbriae are surface appendages that were first described by Poon and Day (1974) on the haploid cells of Microbotryum violaceum. They are long (1 to 20 {dollar}\mu{dollar}m), narrow (7 nm) flexuous fibres that were implicated in important cellular functions such as mating and pathogenesis. Since this initial description, numerous other fungi from all five phyla have been shown to produce fimbriae on their extracellular surfaces. Because they are easy to purify, the fimbriae from M. violaceum have been investigated most extensively. The present study extends the earlier characterizations of M. violaceum fimbriae, and expands on the biochemical description of these unusual structures.;Fimbriae are complex structures that are shown here to be composed of three major components: protein, carbohydrate and RNA. The RNA component of fimbriae (f-RNA) is the first example of an extracellular RNA that has been well documented. It is a 30 base, single-stranded molecule that has a standard 5{dollar}\sp\prime{dollar} phosphate. The f-RNAs constitute a homogeneous population of macromolecules that are present in fimbriae isolated from both a{dollar}\sb1{dollar} and a{dollar}\sb2{dollar} mating types. f-RNA is abundant {dollar}(2.77\times10\sp3{dollar} f-RNA molecules per 1 {dollar}\mu{dollar}m fimbrial length) and well-protected. The existence of this extracellular f-RNA suggests intriguing possible mechanisms that may exist for cell to cell communication.;The structural subunit of M. violaceum fimbriae is a 74 kDa glycoprotein. The carbohydrate component is a \u27high mannose type\u27 that is covalently linked to an asparagine residue on the 47 kDa aglycone via two N-acetylglucosamine residues. Unlike the protein epitopes which are conserved in at least four fungal divisions, the carbohydrate component of fimbriae is order specific and can be used to distinguish between members of the fungal orders Microbotryales and Ustilaginales.;The protein component of M. violaceum fimbriae was also analyzed extensively. The N-terminus and three internal amino acid sequences show a strong similarity to a single gene family, the collagens. Further, enzymatic digests and immuno-chemical analyses support this finding. Based on these results, it is suggested that the proteinaceous subunits of fimbriae should be termed fungal collagens. Fungal collagens may be examples of orthologous evolution. Thus collagen, the principal component of the animal extracellular matrix, may have evolved in a common ancestor that existed prior to the divergence of fungi and animals.;Finally, native fimbriae can function as mammalian extracellular matrix components. In particular, fimbriae can act as a substratum, permitting animal cells to adhere, spread, and proliferate.;It is concluded that fimbriae are multifarious structures, much more elaborate than was initially reported. Each of the components, the f-RNA, the carbohydrate, and the fungal collagen, has its own individual intricacies and the biochemistry of each is fascinating. However, the role of native fimbriae in vivo remains elusive. Possible functions are discussed

Characterization of bacterial operons consisting of two tubulins and a kinesin-like gene by the novel Two-Step Gene Walking method

Tubulins are still considered as typical proteins of Eukaryotes. However, more recently they have been found in the unusual bacteria Prosthecobacter (btubAB). In this study, the genomic organization of the btub-genes and their genomic environment were characterized by using the newly developed Two-Step Gene Walking method. In all investigated Prosthecobacters, btubAB are organized in a typical bacterial operon. Strikingly, all btub-operons comprise a third gene with similarities to kinesin light chain sequences. The genomic environments of the characterized btub-operons are always different. This supports the hypothesis that this group of genes represents an independent functional unit, which was acquired by Prosthecobacter via horizontal gene transfer. The newly developed Two-Step Gene Walking method is based on randomly primed polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It presents a simple workflow, which comprises only two major steps—a Walking-PCR with a single specific outward pointing primer (step 1) and the direct sequencing of its product using a nested specific primer (step 2). Two-Step Gene Walking proved to be highly efficient and was successfully used to characterize over 20 kb of sequence not only in pure culture but even in complex non-pure culture samples

The Fibrillar Collagen Family

Collagens, or more precisely collagen-based extracellular matrices, are often considered as a metazoan hallmark. Among the collagens, fibrillar collagens are present from sponges to humans, and are involved in the formation of the well-known striated fibrils. In this review we discuss the different steps in the evolution of this protein family, from the formation of an ancestral fibrillar collagen gene to the formation of different clades. Genomic data from the choanoflagellate (sister group of Metazoa) Monosiga brevicollis, and from diploblast animals, have suggested that the formation of an ancestral α chain occurred before the metazoan radiation. Phylogenetic studies have suggested an early emergence of the three clades that were first described in mammals. Hence the duplication events leading to the formation of the A, B and C clades occurred before the eumetazoan radiation. Another important event has been the two rounds of “whole genome duplication” leading to the amplification of fibrillar collagen gene numbers, and the importance of this diversification in developmental processes. We will also discuss some other aspects of fibrillar collagen evolution such as the development of the molecular mechanisms involved in the formation of procollagen molecules and of striated fibrils

CRA-1 Uncovers a Double-Strand Break-Dependent Pathway Promoting the Assembly of Central Region Proteins on Chromosome Axes During C. elegans Meiosis

The synaptonemal complex (SC), a tripartite proteinaceous structure that forms between homologous chromosomes during meiosis, is crucial for faithful chromosome segregation. Here we identify CRA-1, a novel and conserved protein that is required for the assembly of the central region of the SC during C. elegans meiosis. In the absence of CRA-1, central region components fail to extensively localize onto chromosomes at early prophase and instead mostly surround the chromatin at this stage. Later in prophase, central region proteins polymerize along chromosome axes, but for the most part fail to connect the axes of paired homologous chromosomes. This defect results in an inability to stabilize homologous pairing interactions, altered double-strand break (DSB) repair progression, and a lack of chiasmata. Surprisingly, DSB formation and repair are required to promote the polymerization of the central region components along meiotic chromosome axes in cra-1 mutants. In the absence of both CRA-1 and any one of the C. elegans homologs of SPO11, MRE11, RAD51, or MSH5, the polymerization observed along chromosome axes is perturbed, resulting in the formation of aggregates of the SC central region proteins. While radiation-induced DSBs rescue this polymerization in cra-1; spo-11 mutants, they fail to do so in cra-1; mre-11, cra-1; rad-51, and cra-1; msh-5 mutants. Taken together, our studies place CRA-1 as a key component in promoting the assembly of a tripartite SC structure. Moreover, they reveal a scenario in which DSB formation and repair can drive the polymerization of SC components along chromosome axes in C. elegans

A High Throughput Genetic Screen Identifies New Early Meiotic Recombination Functions in Arabidopsis thaliana

Meiotic recombination is initiated by the formation of numerous DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) catalysed by the widely conserved Spo11 protein. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Spo11 requires nine other proteins for meiotic DSB formation; however, unlike Spo11, few of these are conserved across kingdoms. In order to investigate this recombination step in higher eukaryotes, we took advantage of a high-throughput meiotic mutant screen carried out in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. A collection of 55,000 mutant lines was screened, and spo11-like mutations, characterised by a drastic decrease in chiasma formation at metaphase I associated with an absence of synapsis at prophase, were selected. This screen led to the identification of two populations of mutants classified according to their recombination defects: mutants that repair meiotic DSBs using the sister chromatid such as Atdmc1 or mutants that are unable to make DSBs like Atspo11-1. We found that in Arabidopsis thaliana at least four proteins are necessary for driving meiotic DSB repair via the homologous chromosomes. These include the previously characterised DMC1 and the Hop1-related ASY1 proteins, but also the meiotic specific cyclin SDS as well as the Hop2 Arabidopsis homologue AHP2. Analysing the mutants defective in DSB formation, we identified the previously characterised AtSPO11-1, AtSPO11-2, and AtPRD1 as well as two new genes, AtPRD2 and AtPRD3. Our data thus increase the number of proteins necessary for DSB formation in Arabidopsis thaliana to five. Unlike SPO11 and (to a minor extent) PRD1, these two new proteins are poorly conserved among species, suggesting that the DSB formation mechanism, but not its regulation, is conserved among eukaryotes

Analysis of the Basidiomycete Coprinopsis cinerea Reveals Conservation of the Core Meiotic Expression Program over Half a Billion Years of Evolution

Coprinopsis cinerea (also known as Coprinus cinereus) is a multicellular basidiomycete mushroom particularly suited to the study of meiosis due to its synchronous meiotic development and prolonged prophase. We examined the 15-hour meiotic transcriptional program of C. cinerea, encompassing time points prior to haploid nuclear fusion though tetrad formation, using a 70-mer oligonucleotide microarray. As with other organisms, a large proportion (∼20%) of genes are differentially regulated during this developmental process, with successive waves of transcription apparent in nine transcriptional clusters, including one enriched for meiotic functions. C. cinerea and the fungi Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe diverged ∼500–900 million years ago, permitting a comparison of transcriptional programs across a broad evolutionary time scale. Previous studies of S. cerevisiae and S. pombe compared genes that were induced upon entry into meiosis; inclusion of C. cinerea data indicates that meiotic genes are more conserved in their patterns of induction across species than genes not known to be meiotic. In addition, we found that meiotic genes are significantly more conserved in their transcript profiles than genes not known to be meiotic, which indicates a remarkable conservation of the meiotic process across evolutionarily distant organisms. Overall, meiotic function genes are more conserved in both induction and transcript profile than genes not known to be meiotic. However, of 50 meiotic function genes that were co-induced in all three species, 41 transcript profiles were well-correlated in at least two of the three species, but only a single gene (rad50) exhibited coordinated induction and well-correlated transcript profiles in all three species, indicating that co-induction does not necessarily predict correlated expression or vice versa. Differences may reflect differences in meiotic mechanisms or new roles for paralogs. Similarities in induction, transcript profiles, or both, should contribute to gene discovery for orthologs without currently characterized meiotic roles

Local chromosome context is a major determinant of crossover pathway biochemistry during budding yeast meiosis

YesAbstract The budding yeast genome contains regions where meiotic recombination initiates more frequently than in others. This pattern parallels enrichment for the meiotic chromosome axis proteins Hop1 and Red1. These proteins are important for Spo11-catalyzed double strand break formation; their contribution to crossover recombination remains undefined. Using the sequence-specific VMA1-derived endonuclease (VDE) to initiate recombination in meiosis, we show that chromosome structure influences the choice of proteins that resolve recombination intermediates to form crossovers. At a Hop1-enriched locus, most VDE-initiated crossovers, like most Spo11-initiated crossovers, required the meiosis-specific MutLγ resolvase. In contrast, at a locus with lower Hop1 occupancy, most VDE-initiated crossovers were MutLγ-independent. In pch2 mutants, the two loci displayed similar Hop1 occupancy levels, and VDE-induced crossovers were similarly MutLγ-dependent. We suggest that meiotic and mitotic recombination pathways coexist within meiotic cells, and that features of meiotic chromosome structure determine whether one or the other predominates in different regions

A basin redox transect at the dawn of animal life

Abstract not availableErik A. Sperling, Galen P. Halverson, Andrew H. Knoll, Francis A. Macdonald, David T. Johnsto