Bubble-chip analysis of human origin distributions demonstrates on a genomic scale significant clustering into zones and significant association with transcription

We have used a novel bubble-trapping procedure to construct nearly pure and comprehensive human origin libraries from early S- and log-phase HeLa cells, and from log-phase GM06990, a karyotypically normal lymphoblastoid cell line. When hybridized to ENCODE tiling arrays, these libraries illuminated 15.3%, 16.4%, and 21.8% of the genome in the ENCODE regions, respectively. Approximately half of the origin fragments cluster into zones, and their signals are generally higher than those of isolated fragments. Interestingly, initiation events are distributed about equally between genic and intergenic template sequences. While only 13.2% and 14.0% of genes within the ENCODE regions are actually transcribed in HeLa and GM06990 cells, 54.5% and 25.6% of zonal origin fragments overlap transcribed genes, most with activating chromatin marks in their promoters. Our data suggest that cell synchronization activates a significant number of inchoate origins. In addition, HeLa and GM06990 cells activate remarkably different origin populations. Finally, there is only moderate concordance between the log-phase HeLa bubble map and published maps of small nascent strands for this cell line

Thiamine Biosynthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae Is Regulated by the NAD+-Dependent Histone Deacetylase Hst1▿ †

Genes encoding thiamine biosynthesis enzymes in microorganisms are tightly regulated such that low environmental thiamine concentrations activate transcription and high concentrations are repressive. We have determined that multiple thiamine (THI) genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are also regulated by the intracellular NAD+ concentration via the NAD+-dependent histone deacetylase (HDAC) Hst1 and, to a lesser extent, Sir2. Both of these HDACs associate with a distal region of the affected THI gene promoters that does not overlap with a previously defined enhancer region bound by the thiamine-responsive Thi2/Thi3/Pdc2 transcriptional activators. The specificity of histone H3 and/or H4 deacetylation carried out by Hst1 and Sir2 at the distal promoter region depends on the THI gene being tested. Hst1/Sir2-mediated repression of the THI genes occurs at the level of basal expression, thus representing the first set of transcription factors shown to actively repress this gene class. Importantly, lowering the NAD+ concentration and inhibiting the Hst1/Sum1 HDAC complex elevated the intracellular thiamine concentration due to increased thiamine biosynthesis and transport, implicating NAD+ in the control of thiamine homeostasis