RNA polymerase II phosphorylated on CTD serine 5 interacts with the spliceosome during co-transcriptional splicing

© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).The highly intronic nature of protein coding genes in mammals necessitates a co-transcriptional splicing mechanism as revealed by mNET-seq analysis. Immunoprecipitation of MNase-digested chromatin with antibodies against RNA polymerase II (Pol II) shows that active spliceosomes (both snRNA and proteins) are complexed to Pol II S5P CTD during elongation and co-transcriptional splicing. Notably, elongating Pol II-spliceosome complexes form strong interactions with nascent transcripts, resulting in footprints of approximately 60 nucleotides. Also, splicing intermediates formed by cleavage at the 5' splice site are associated with nearly all spliced exons. These spliceosome-bound intermediates are frequently ligated to upstream exons, implying a sequential, constitutive, and U12-dependent splicing process. Finally, lack of detectable spliced products connected to the Pol II active site in human HeLa or murine lymphoid cells suggests that splicing does not occur immediately following 3' splice site synthesis. Our results imply that most mammalian splicing requires exon definition for completion.This work was supported by funding to N.J.P. (Wellcome Trust Investigator Award [107928/Z/15/Z] and ERC Advanced [339270] grants) and to M.C.-F. (Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal; grant PTDC/BEX-BCM/5899/2014).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mammalian NET-Seq reveals genome-wide nascent transcription coupled to RNA processing

© Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Transcription is a highly dynamic process. Consequently, we have developed native elongating transcript sequencing technology for mammalian chromatin (mNET-seq), which generates single-nucleotide resolution, nascent transcription profiles. Nascent RNA was detected in the active site of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) along with associated RNA processing intermediates. In particular, we detected 5'splice site cleavage by the spliceosome, showing that cleaved upstream exon transcripts are associated with Pol II CTD phosphorylated on the serine 5 position (S5P), which is accumulated over downstream exons. Also, depletion of termination factors substantially reduces Pol II pausing at gene ends, leading to termination defects. Notably, termination factors play an additional promoter role by restricting non-productive RNA synthesis in a Pol II CTD S2P-specific manner. Our results suggest that CTD phosphorylation patterns established for yeast transcription are significantly different in mammals. Taken together, mNET-seq provides dynamic and detailed snapshots of the complex events underlying transcription in mammals.This work was supported by funding to N.J.P. (Wellcome Trust Programme [091805/Z/10/Z] and ERC Advanced [339270] Grants) and to M.C.-F. (Fundação Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pro-inflammatory polarization and colorectal cancer modulate alternative and intronic polyadenylation in primary human macrophages

Macrophages are essential cells of the immune system that alter their inflammatory profile depending on their microenvironment. Alternative polyadenylation in the 3'UTR (3'UTR-APA) and intronic polyadenylation (IPA) are mechanisms that modulate gene expression, in particular in cancer and activated immune cells. Yet, how polarization and colorectal cancer (CRC) cells microenvironment affect 3'UTR-APA and IPA in primary human macrophages remains unknown. Here, primary human monocytes were isolated from healthy donors, differentiated and polarized into a pro-inflammatory state and ChrRNA-Seq and 3'RNA-Seq were performed to quantify gene expression and characterize new 3’UTR-APA and IPA mRNA isoforms. Our results show that polarization of human macrophages from naïve to a pro-inflammatory state causes a marked increase both in proximal polyA site selection in the 3'UTR and in IPA events, in genes relevant for macrophage functions. Additionally, we found a negative correlation between differential gene expression and IPA during pro-inflammatory polarization of primary human macrophages. As macrophages are abundant immune cells in the CRC microenvironment that either promote or abrogate cancer progression, we investigated how indirect exposure to CRC cells affects macrophage gene expression and 3'UTR-APA and IPA mRNA events. Co-culture with CRC cells alters the inflammatory phenotype of macrophages, increases the expression of pro tumoral genes and induce 3’UTR-APA alterations. Notably, some of these gene expression differences were also found in tumour-associated macrophages of CRC patients, indicating that they are physiological relevant. Upon macrophage pro inflammatory polarization SRSF12 is the pre-mRNA processing gene that is most upregulated. After SRSF12 knockdown in M1 macrophages there is a global downregulation of gene expression, in particular in genes involved in gene expression regulation and in immune responses. Our results reveal new 48 3’UTR-APA and IPA mRNA isoforms produced during pro-inflammatory polarization of primary human macrophages and CRC co-culture that may be used in the future as diagnostic or therapeutic tools

A Case of Cutaneous Infection Caused by Mycobacterium Szulgai with Progression to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

A 59-year-old man presented with a skin eruption and bilateral swelling of the legs. Soon after the initial presentation, he developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) with miliary lung nodules. Culture of samples from the skin ulcers, sputum, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid all revealed Mycobacterium szulgai infection. The patient was successfully treated with antituberculosis drugs. M. szulgai infection is very rarely reported worldwide, and disseminated infection usually occurs in immunocompromised patients. However, the present patient was a non-immunocompromised case, although he was a hepatitis B virus carrier. While the progression to ARDS from M. tuberculosis infection is well known, this is the first case of M. szulgai infection progressing to ARDS

CDK12 globally stimulates RNA polymerase II transcription elongation and carboxyl-terminal domain phosphorylation

Cyclin-dependent kinase 12 (CDK12) phosphorylates the carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (pol II) but its roles in transcription beyond the expression of DNA damage response genes remain unclear. Here, we have used TT-seq and mNET-seq to monitor the direct effects of rapid CDK12 inhibition on transcription activity and CTD phosphorylation in human cells. CDK12 inhibition causes a genome-wide defect in transcription elongation and a global reduction of CTD Ser2 and Ser5 phosphorylation. The elongation defect is explained by the loss of the elongation factors LEO1 and CDC73, part of PAF1 complex, and SPT6 from the newly-elongating pol II. Our results indicate that CDK12 is a general activator of pol II transcription elongation and indicate that it targets both Ser2 and Ser5 residues of the pol II CTD

Orbital-selective two-dimensional superconductivity in 2H−NbS₂

Orbital-selective superconductivity is crucial for understanding the pairing mechanism for multiband superconductors. Atomic d orbitals with anisotropic spatial extension can directly determine the energy dispersion of subbands with two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) nature in band structure. Theoretically, owing to the coexistence of these 2D and 3D subbands, the orbital-selective superconductivity can exhibit band-dependent dimensionality in multiband superconductors. However, to experimentally confirm this orbital-selective 2D superconductivity remains challenging and elusive. Herein, based on angle-dependent upper critical magnetic field on 2H−NbS2 flakes, we observe a cusp peak associated with a 2D superconducting subband from the dxy and dx2−y2 orbitals of Nb atoms, and a round peak related to a 3D subband, directly confirming the existence of intrinsic 2D superconductivity in 2H−NbS2 thick flake and its orbital-selective superconducting nature. The 2D superconductivity remains robust under large electric current or high pressure. Such observations shed light on the orbital-selective pairing mechanism and resulting band-dependent dimensionality for multiband superconductors

The Influence of Mirror-Visual Feedback on Training-Induced Motor Performance Gains in the Untrained Hand

The well-documented observation of bilateral performance gains following unilateral motor training, a phenomenon known as cross-limb transfer, has important implications for rehabilitation. It has recently been shown that provision of a mirror image of the active hand during unilateral motor training has the capacity to enhance the efficacy of this phenomenon when compared to training without augmented visual feedback (i.e., watching the passive hand), possibly via action observation effects [1]. The current experiment was designed to confirm whether mirror-visual feedback (MVF) during motor training can indeed elicit greater performance gains in the untrained hand compared to more standard visual feedback (i.e., watching the active hand). Furthermore, discussing the mechanisms underlying any such MVF-induced behavioural effects, we suggest that action observation and the cross-activation hypothesis may both play important roles in eliciting cross-limb transfer. Eighty participants practiced a fast-as-possible two-ball rotation task with their dominant hand. During training, three different groups were provided with concurrent visual feedback of the active hand, inactive hand or a mirror image of the active hand with a fourth control group receiving no training. Pre- and post-training performance was measured in both hands. MVF did not increase the extent of training-induced performance changes in the untrained hand following unilateral training above and beyond those observed for other types of feedback. The data are consistent with the notion that cross-limb transfer, when combined with MVF, is mediated by cross-activation with action observation playing a less unique role than previously suggested. Further research is needed to replicate the current and previous studies to determine the clinical relevance and potential benefits of MVF for cases that, due to the severity of impairment, rely on unilateral training programmes of the unaffected limb to drive changes in the contralateral affected limb