Whole-genome analysis of animal A- and B-type cyclins.

BACKGROUND: Multiple A- and B-type cyclins have been identified in animals, but their study is complicated by varying degrees of functional redundancy. A non-essential phenotype may reflect redundancy with a known or as yet unknown gene. Complete sequencing of several animal genomes has allowed us to determine the size of the mitotic cyclin gene family and therefore to start to address this issue. RESULTS: We analyzed the Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens genomes to identify known and novel A- and B-type cyclin genes and distinguish them from related pseudogenes. We find only a single functional A-type cyclin gene in invertebrates but two in vertebrates. In addition to the single functional cyclin A gene, the C. elegans genome contains numerous cyclin A pseudogenes. In contrast, the number and relationship of B-type cyclins varies considerably between organisms but all contain at least one cyclin B1-like gene and a cyclin B3 gene. CONCLUSIONS: There are three conserved families of mitotic cyclins in animals: A-, B3- and B-type. The precise number of genes within the A- and B-type families varies in different organisms, possibly as an adaptation to their distinct developmental strategies.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Genome-wide in silico screen for CCCH-type zinc finger proteins of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major.

BACKGROUND: CCCH type zinc finger proteins are RNA binding proteins with regulatory functions at all stages of mRNA metabolism. The best-characterized member, tritetraproline (TTP), binds to AU rich elements in 3' UTRs of unstable mRNAs, mediating their degradation. In kinetoplastids, CCCH type zinc finger proteins have been identified as being involved in the regulation of the life cycle and possibly the cell cycle. To date, no systematic listing of CCCH proteins in kinetoplastids is available. RESULTS: We have identified the complete set of CCCH type zinc finger proteins in the available genomes of the kinetoplastid protozoa Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major. One fifths (20%) of all CCCH motifs fall into non-conventional classes and many had not been previously identified. One third of all CCCH proteins have more than one CCCH motif, suggesting multivalent RNA binding. One third have additional recognizable domains. The vast majority are unique to Kinetoplastida or to a subgroup within. Two exceptions are of interest: the putative orthologue of the mRNA nuclear export factor Mex67 and a 3'-5' exoribonuclease restricted to Leishmania species. CCCH motifs are absent from these proteins in other organisms and might be unique, novel features of the Kinetoplastida homologues. Of the others, several have a predicted, and in one case experimentally confirmed, connection to the ubiquitination pathways, for instance a HECT-type E3 ubiquitin ligase. The total number of kinetoplastid CCCH proteins is similar to the number in higher eukaryotes but lower than in yeast. A comparison of the genomic loci between the Trypanosomatidae homologues provides insight into both the evolution of the CCCH proteins as well as the CCCH motifs. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first systematic listing of the Kinetoplastida CCCH proteins. The number of CCCH proteins with more then one CCCH motif is larger than previously estimated, due to the identification of non-conventional CCCH motifs. Experimental approaches are now necessary to examine the functions of the many unique CCCH proteins as well as the function of the putative Mex67 and the Leishmania 3'-5' exoribonuclease.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Whole-genome analysis of animal A- and B-type cyclins

BACKGROUND: Multiple A- and B-type cyclins have been identified in animals, but their study is complicated by varying degrees of functional redundancy. A non-essential phenotype may reflect redundancy with a known or as yet unknown gene. Complete sequencing of several animal genomes has allowed us to determine the size of the mitotic cyclin gene family and therefore to start to address this issue. RESULTS: We analyzed the Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and Homo sapiens genomes to identify known and novel A- and B-type cyclin genes and distinguish them from related pseudogenes. We find only a single functional A-type cyclin gene in invertebrates but two in vertebrates. In addition to the single functional cyclin A gene, the C. elegans genome contains numerous cyclin A pseudogenes. In contrast, the number and relationship of B-type cyclins varies considerably between organisms but all contain at least one cyclin B1-like gene and a cyclin B3 gene. CONCLUSIONS: There are three conserved families of mitotic cyclins in animals: A-, B3- and B-type. The precise number of genes within the A- and B-type families varies in different organisms, possibly as an adaptation to their distinct developmental strategies

A new generation of T7 RNA polymerase-independent inducible expression plasmids for Trypanosoma brucei.

Expression of transgenes is central to forward and reverse genetic analysis in Trypanosoma brucei. The inducible expression of transgenes in trypanosomes is based on the tetracycline repressor binding to a tetracycline operator to prevent transcription in the absence of tetracycline. The same inducible system is used to produce double-stranded RNA for RNAi knockdown of target genes. This study describes a new plasmid pSPR2.1 that drives consistent high-level expression of tetracycline repressor in procyclic form trypanosomes. A complementary expression plasmid, p3227, was constructed. The major difference between this and current plasmids is the separation of the inducible transgene and selectable marker promoters by the plasmid backbone. The plasmid p3227 was able to support inducible expression in cell lines containing pSPR2.1 as well as the established Lister 427 29-13 cell line. p3666, a derivative of p3227, was made for inducible expression of stem loop RNAi constructs and was effective for knockdown of DRBD3, which had proved problematic using existing RNAi plasmids with head-to-head promoters. The plasmid system was also able to support inducible transgene expression and DRBD3 RNAi knockdown in bloodstream form cells expressing tetracycline repressor from an integrated copy of the plasmid pHD1313

A short RNA stem–loop is necessary and sufficient for repression of gene expression during early logarithmic phase in trypanosomes

We have compared the transcriptomes of cultured procyclic Trypanosoma brucei cells in early and late logarithmic phases and found that ∼200 mRNAs were differentially regulated. In late log phase cells, the most upregulated mRNA encoded the nucleobase transporter NT8. The 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of NT8 contains a short stem–loop cis-element that is necessary for the regulation of NT8 expression in response to external purine levels. When placed in the 3′-UTR of an unregulated transcript, the cis-element is sufficient to confer regulation in response to purines. To our knowledge, this is the first example of a discrete RNA element that can autonomously regulate gene expression in trypanosomes in response to an external factor and reveals an unprecedented purine-dependent signaling pathway that controls gene expression in eukaryotes.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [BFU 2009-07510 to A.M.E.]; The Wellcome Trust [085956 to M.C.]; The Royal Society Joint Project [2008/R2 to M.C. and A.M.E.] Funding for open access charge: The Wellcome Trust.Peer reviewe

Depletion of the RNA-binding protein RBP33 results in increased expression of silenced RNA polymerase II transcripts in Trypanosoma brucei.

We have characterized the RNA-binding protein RBP33 in Trypanosoma brucei, and found that it localizes to the nucleus and is essential for viability. The subset of RNAs bound to RBP33 was determined by immunoprecipitation of ribonucleoprotein complexes followed by deep sequencing. Most RBP33-bound transcripts are predicted to be non-coding. Among these, over one-third are located close to the end of transcriptional units (TUs) or have an antisense orientation within a TU. Depletion of RBP33 resulted in an increase in the level of RNAs derived from regions that are normally silenced, such as strand-switch regions, retroposon and repeat sequences. Our work provides the first example of an RNA-binding protein involved in the regulation of gene silencing in trypanosomes.This is the final published version. It's also available from PLOS at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0107608

Codon choice directs constitutive mRNA levels in trypanosomes.

Selective transcription of individual protein coding genes does not occur in trypanosomes and the cellular copy number of each mRNA must be determined post-transcriptionally. Here, we provide evidence that codon choice directs the levels of constitutively expressed mRNAs. First, a novel codon usage metric, the gene expression codon adaptation index (geCAI), was developed that maximised the relationship between codon choice and the measured abundance for a transcriptome. Second, geCAI predictions of mRNA levels were tested using differently coded GFP transgenes and were successful over a 25-fold range, similar to the variation in endogenous mRNAs. Third, translation was necessary for the accelerated mRNA turnover resulting from codon choice. Thus, in trypanosomes, the information determining the levels of most mRNAs resides in the open reading frame and translation is required to access this information