Genome-wide analysis of growth phase-dependent translational and transcriptional regulation in halophilic archaea : research article

Background Differential expression of genes can be regulated on many different levels. Most global studies of gene regulation concentrate on transcript level regulation, and very few global analyses of differential translational efficiencies exist. The studies have revealed that in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Arabidopsis thaliana, and human cell lines translational regulation plays a significant role. Additional species have not been investigated yet. Particularly, until now no global study of translational control with any prokaryotic species was available. Results A global analysis of translational control was performed with two haloarchaeal model species, Halobacterium salinarum and Haloferax volcanii. To identify differentially regulated genes, exponentially growing and stationary phase cells were compared. More than 20% of H. salinarum transcripts are translated with non-average efficiencies. By far the largest group is comprised of genes that are translated with above-average efficiency specifically in exponential phase, including genes for many ribosomal proteins, RNA polymerase subunits, enzymes, and chemotaxis proteins. Translation of 1% of all genes is specifically repressed in either of the two growth phases. For comparison, DNA microarrays were also used to identify differential transcriptional regulation in H. salinarum, and 17% of all genes were found to have non-average transcript levels in exponential versus stationary phase. In H. volcanii, 12% of all genes are translated with non-average efficiencies. The overlap with H. salinarum is negligible. In contrast to H. salinarum, 4.6% of genes have non-average translational efficiency in both growth phases, and thus they might be regulated by other stimuli than growth phase. Conclusions For the first time in any prokaryotic species it was shown that a significant fraction of genes is under differential translational control. Groups of genes with different regulatory patterns were discovered. However, neither the fractions nor the identity of regulated genes are conserved between H. salinarum and H. volcanii, indicating that prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes use differential translational control for the regulation of gene expression, but that the identity of regulated genes is not conserved For 70 H. salinarum genes potentiation of regulation was observed, but for the majority of regulated genes either transcriptional or translational regulation is employed

Genome-wide analysis of growth phase-dependent translational and transcriptional regulation in halophilic archaea

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Differential expression of genes can be regulated on many different levels. Most global studies of gene regulation concentrate on transcript level regulation, and very few global analyses of differential translational efficiencies exist. The studies have revealed that in <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</it>, <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, and human cell lines translational regulation plays a significant role. Additional species have not been investigated yet. Particularly, until now no global study of translational control with any prokaryotic species was available.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A global analysis of translational control was performed with two haloarchaeal model species, <it>Halobacterium salinarum </it>and <it>Haloferax volcanii</it>. To identify differentially regulated genes, exponentially growing and stationary phase cells were compared.</p> <p>More than 20% of <it>H. salinarum </it>transcripts are translated with non-average efficiencies. By far the largest group is comprised of genes that are translated with above-average efficiency specifically in exponential phase, including genes for many ribosomal proteins, RNA polymerase subunits, enzymes, and chemotaxis proteins. Translation of 1% of all genes is specifically repressed in either of the two growth phases. For comparison, DNA microarrays were also used to identify differential transcriptional regulation in <it>H. salinarum</it>, and 17% of all genes were found to have non-average transcript levels in exponential versus stationary phase.</p> <p>In <it>H. volcanii</it>, 12% of all genes are translated with non-average efficiencies. The overlap with <it>H. salinarum </it>is negligible. In contrast to <it>H. salinarum</it>, 4.6% of genes have non-average translational efficiency in both growth phases, and thus they might be regulated by other stimuli than growth phase.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>For the first time in any prokaryotic species it was shown that a significant fraction of genes is under differential translational control. Groups of genes with different regulatory patterns were discovered. However, neither the fractions nor the identity of regulated genes are conserved between <it>H. salinarum </it>and <it>H. volcanii</it>, indicating that prokaryotes as well as eukaryotes use differential translational control for the regulation of gene expression, but that the identity of regulated genes is not conserved.</p> <p>For 70 <it>H. salinarum </it>genes potentiation of regulation was observed, but for the majority of regulated genes either transcriptional or translational regulation is employed.</p

The methylome of the marbled crayfish links gene body methylation to stable expression of poorly accessible genes

Background: The parthenogenetic marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis) is a novel species that has rapidly invaded and colonized various different habitats. Adaptation to different environments appears to be independent of the selection of genetic variants, but epigenetic programming of the marbled crayfish genome remains to be understood. Results: Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of DNA methylation in marbled crayfish. Whole-genome bisulfite sequencing of multiple replicates and different tissues revealed a methylation pattern that is characterized by gene body methylation of housekeeping genes. Interestingly, this pattern was largely tissue invariant, suggesting a function that is unrelated to cell fate specification. Indeed, integrative analysis of DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility and mRNA expression patterns revealed that gene body methylation correlated with limited chromatin accessibility and stable gene expression, while low-methylated genes often resided in chromatin with higher accessibility and showed increased expression variation. Interestingly, marbled crayfish also showed reduced gene body methylation and higher gene expression variability when compared with their noninvasive mother species, Procambarus fallax. Conclusions: Our results provide novel insights into invertebrate gene body methylation and its potential role in adaptive gene regulation

DNA (de)methylation in embryonic stem cells controls CTCF-dependent chromatin boundaries

Coordinated changes of DNA (de)methylation, nucleosome positioning and chromatin binding of the architectural protein CTCF play an important role for establishing cell type specific chromatin states during differentiation. To elucidate molecular mechanisms that link these processes we studied the perturbed DNA modification landscape in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) carrying a double knockout (DKO) of the TET1 and TET2 dioxygenases. These enzymes are responsible for the conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) into its hydroxymethylated (5hmC), formylated (5fC) or carboxylated (5caC) forms. We determined changes in nucleosome positioning, CTCF binding, DNA methylation and gene expression in DKO ESCs, and developed biophysical models to predict differential CTCF binding. Methylation-sensitive nucleosome repositioning accounted for a significant portion of CTCF binding loss in DKO ESCs, while unmethylated and nucleosome-depleted CpG islands were enriched for CTCF sites that remained occupied. A number of CTCF sites also displayed direct correlations with the CpG modification state: CTCF was preferentially lost from sites that were marked with 5hmC in wild type cells but not from 5fC enriched sites. In addition, we found that some CTCF sites can act as bifurcation points defining the differential methylation landscape. CTCF loss from such sites, e.g. at promoters, boundaries of chromatin loops and topologically associated domains (TADs), was correlated with DNA methylation/demethylation spreading and can be linked to downregulation of neighbouring genes. Our results reveal a hierarchical interplay between cytosine modifications, nucleosome positions and DNA sequence that determines differential CTCF binding and regulates gene expression

BACCardI - a tool for the validation of genomic assemblies, assisting genome finishing and intergenome comparison

Bartels D, Kespohl S, Albaum S, et al. BACCardI - a tool for the validation of genomic assemblies, assisting genome finishing and intergenome comparison. Bioinformatics. 2005;21(7):853-859.Summary: We provide the graphical tool BACCardI for the construction of virtual clone maps from standard assembler output files or BLAST based sequence comparisons. This new tool has been applied to numerous genome projects to solve various problems including (a) validation of whole genome shotgun assemblies, (b) support for contig ordering in the finishing phase of a genome project, and (c) intergenome comparison between related strains when only one of the strains has been sequenced and a large insert library is available for the other. The BACCardI software can seamlessly interact with various sequence assembly packages. Motivation: Genomic assemblies generated from sequence information need to be validated by independent methods such as physical maps. The time-consuming task of building physical maps can be circumvented by virtual clone maps derived from read pair information of large insert libraries

Blood Transfusion and Spread of Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

The effect of reducing vCJD transmission by excluding potential blood donors who have received a blood transfusion can be quantified and depends on the absolute number of cases observed or expected

PrimeArray: genome-scale primer design for DNA-microarray construction

Summary: PrimeArray is a Windows program that computes oligonuceotide primer pairs for genome-scale gene amplification by the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). The program supports the automated extraction of coding sequences (CDS) from various input-file formats and allows highly automated primer pair-optimization. Availability: The program is freely available for non-profit use via request from the authors. Contact: [email protected]

Comparative analysis of four Campylobacterales.

Comparative genome analysis can be used to identify species-specific genes and gene clusters, and analysis of these genes can give an insight into the mechanisms involved in a specific bacteria-host interaction. Comparative analysis can also provide important information on the genome dynamics and degree of recombination in a particular species. This article describes the comparative genome analysis of representatives of four different Campylobacterales species - two pathogens of humans, Helicobacter pylori and Campylobacter jejuni, as well as Helicobacter hepaticus, which is associated with liver cancer in rodents, and the non-pathogenic commensal species, Wolinella succinogenes

Dnmt3a Protects Active Chromosome Domains against Cancer-Associated Hypomethylation

Changes in genomic DNA methylation patterns are generally assumed to play an important role in the etiology of human cancers. The Dnmt3a enzyme is required for the establishment of normal methylation patterns, and mutations in Dnmt3a have been described in leukemias. Deletion of Dnmt3a in a K-ras–dependent mouse lung cancer model has been shown to promote tumor progression, which suggested that the enzyme might suppress tumor development by stabilizing DNA methylation patterns. We have used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to comprehensively characterize the methylomes from Dnmt3a wildtype and Dnmt3a-deficient mouse lung tumors. Our results show that profound global methylation changes can occur in K-ras–induced lung cancer. Dnmt3a wild-type tumors were characterized by large hypomethylated domains that correspond to nuclear lamina-associated domains. In contrast, Dnmt3a-deficient tumors showed a uniformly hypomethylated genome. Further data analysis revealed that Dnmt3a is required for efficient maintenance methylation of active chromosome domains and that Dnmt3a-deficient tumors show moderate levels of gene deregulation in these domains. In summary, our results uncover conserved features of cancer methylomes and define the role of Dnmt3a in maintaining DNA methylation patterns in cancer

Dnmt3a protects active chromosome domains against cancer-associated hypomethylation.

Changes in genomic DNA methylation patterns are generally assumed to play an important role in the etiology of human cancers. The Dnmt3a enzyme is required for the establishment of normal methylation patterns, and mutations in Dnmt3a have been described in leukemias. Deletion of Dnmt3a in a K-ras-dependent mouse lung cancer model has been shown to promote tumor progression, which suggested that the enzyme might suppress tumor development by stabilizing DNA methylation patterns. We have used whole-genome bisulfite sequencing to comprehensively characterize the methylomes from Dnmt3a wildtype and Dnmt3a-deficient mouse lung tumors. Our results show that profound global methylation changes can occur in K-ras-induced lung cancer. Dnmt3a wild-type tumors were characterized by large hypomethylated domains that correspond to nuclear lamina-associated domains. In contrast, Dnmt3a-deficient tumors showed a uniformly hypomethylated genome. Further data analysis revealed that Dnmt3a is required for efficient maintenance methylation of active chromosome domains and that Dnmt3a-deficient tumors show moderate levels of gene deregulation in these domains. In summary, our results uncover conserved features of cancer methylomes and define the role of Dnmt3a in maintaining DNA methylation patterns in cancer