scholarly journals Building an efficient factory

2002 ◽  
Vol 157 (5) ◽  
pp. 739-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sui Huang

The subnucleolar structure that is involved in rDNA transcription has been controversial. A report by Koberna et al. (2002)(this issue, page 743) adds significant weight toward the idea that dense fibrillar components (DFCs)**Abbreviations used in this paper: DFC, dense fibrillar component; FC, fibrillar center; GC, granular component; Pol I, polymerase I. and fibrillar center (FC)/DFC borders are the sites of pre-rRNA synthesis.

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 373 (6554) ◽  
pp. 547-555
Author(s):  
Man Wu ◽  
Guang Xu ◽  
Chong Han ◽  
Peng-Fei Luan ◽  
Yu-Hang Xing ◽  
...  

RNA polymerase I (Pol I) transcription takes place at the border of the fibrillar center (FC) and the dense fibrillar component (DFC) in the nucleolus. Here, we report that individual spherical FC/DFC units are coated by the DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX21 in human cells. The long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) SLERT binds to DDX21 RecA domains to promote DDX21 to adopt a closed conformation at a substoichiometric ratio through a molecular chaperone–like mechanism resulting in the formation of hypomultimerized and loose DDX21 clusters that coat DFCs, which is required for proper FC/DFC liquidity and Pol I processivity. Our results suggest that SLERT is an RNA regulator that controls the biophysical properties of FC/DFCs and thus ribosomal RNA production.


1991 ◽  
Vol 99 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-767
Author(s):  
M. Thiry ◽  
G. Goessens

The precise location of transcribing rRNA genes within Ehrlich tumor cell nucleoli has been investigated using two approaches: high-resolution autoradiography of cells pulse-labelled with tritiated uridine, varying the exposure time, and in situ-in vitro transcription coupled with an immunogold labelling procedure. When autoradiographic preparations are exposed for a short time, silver grains are found associated almost exclusively with interphasic cell nucleoli. Labelling of extranucleolar areas requires longer exposure. Within the nucleolus, the first sites to be revealed are in the dense fibrillar component. Prolonging exposure increases labelling over the dense fibrillar component, with label becoming more and more apparent over the fibrillar centers. Under these conditions, however, labelling does not extend into the granular component, and no background is observed. Initiation of transcription on ultrathin cell sections occurs preferentially at the borders of condensed chromatin blocks and in their close vicinity. The condensed chromatin areas themselves remain unlabelled. Inside most nucleoli, gold-particle clusters are mainly detected in the fibrillar centers, especially at their periphery, whereas the dense fibrillar component and the granular component remain devoid of label. These results, together with previous observations made on the same cell type, clearly indicate that the fibrillar centers are the sites of rRNA gene transcription in Ehrlich tumor cell nucleoli, while the dense fibrillar component is the site of pre-rRNA accumulation.


2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (10) ◽  
pp. C1523-C1530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdinand von Walden ◽  
Vandre Casagrande ◽  
Ann-Kristin Östlund Farrants ◽  
Gustavo A. Nader

The main goal of the present study was to investigate the regulation of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene transcription at the onset of skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Mice were subjected to functional overload of the plantaris by bilateral removal of the synergist muscles. Mechanical loading resulted in muscle hypertrophy with an increase in rRNA content. rDNA transcription, as determined by 45S pre-rRNA abundance, paralleled the increase in rRNA content and was consistent with the onset of the hypertrophic response. Increased transcription and protein expression of c-Myc and its downstream polymerase I (Pol I) regulon (POL1RB, TIF-1A, PAF53, TTF1, TAF1C) was also consistent with the increase in rRNA. Similarly, factors involved in rDNA transcription, such as the upstream binding factor and the Williams syndrome transcription factor, were induced by mechanical loading in a corresponding temporal fashion. Chromatin immunoprecipitation revealed that these factors, together with Pol I, were enriched at the rDNA promoter. This, in addition to an increase in histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation, demonstrates that mechanical loading regulates rRNA synthesis by inducing a gene expression program consisting of a Pol I regulon, together with accessory factors involved in transcription and chromatin remodeling at the rDNA promoter. Altogether, these data indicate that transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms take place in the regulation of ribosome production at the onset of muscle hypertrophy.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (21) ◽  
pp. 6709-6719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Hontz ◽  
Sarah L. French ◽  
Melanie L. Oakes ◽  
Prasad Tongaonkar ◽  
Masayasu Nomura ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Upstream activating factor (UAF) is a multisubunit complex that functions in the activation of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcription by RNA polymerase I (Pol I). Cells lacking the Uaf30 subunit of UAF reduce the rRNA synthesis rate by ∼70% compared to wild-type cells and produce rRNA using both Pol I and Pol II. Miller chromatin spreads demonstrated that even though there is an overall reduction in rRNA synthesis in uaf30 mutants, the active rDNA genes in such strains are overloaded with polymerases. This phenotype was specific to defects in Uaf30, as mutations in other UAF subunits resulted in a complete absence of rDNA genes with high or even modest Pol densities. The lack of Uaf30 prevented UAF from efficiently binding to the rDNA promoter in vivo, leading to an inability to activate a large number of rDNA genes. The relatively few genes that did become activated were highly transcribed, apparently to compensate for the reduced rRNA synthesis capacity. The results show that Uaf30p is a key targeting factor for the UAF complex that facilitates activation of a large proportion of rDNA genes in the tandem array.


2000 ◽  
Vol 149 (3) ◽  
pp. 575-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Fath ◽  
Philipp Milkereit ◽  
Alexandre V. Podtelejnikov ◽  
Nicolas Bischler ◽  
Patrick Schultz ◽  
...  

A novel ribonucleoprotein complex enriched in nucleolar proteins was purified from yeast extracts and constituents were identified by mass spectrometry. When isolated from rapidly growing cells, the assembly contained ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerase (pol) I, and some of its transcription factors like TATA-binding protein (TBP), Rrn3p, Rrn5p, Rrn7p, and Reb1p along with rRNA processing factors, like Nop1p, Cbf5p, Nhp2p, and Rrp5p. The small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) U3, U14, and MRP were also found to be associated with the complex, which supports accurate transcription, termination, and pseudouridylation of rRNA. Formation of the complex did not depend on pol I, and the complex could efficiently recruit exogenous pol I into active ribosomal DNA (rDNA) transcription units. Visualization of the complex by electron microscopy and immunogold labeling revealed a characteristic cluster-forming network of nonuniform size containing nucleolar proteins like Nop1p and Fpr3p and attached pol I. Our results support the idea that a functional nucleolar subdomain formed independently of the state of rDNA transcription may serve as a scaffold for coordinated rRNA synthesis and processing.


1991 ◽  
Vol 100 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Martin ◽  
F.J. Medina

The distribution of nucleolar RNA polymerase in the nucleolus of onion root meristematic cells has been studied by means of an antibody originally raised against Drosophila RNA polymerase II. This antibody recognizes the homologous domains of the large subunit of the enzyme, which are highly conserved throughout evolution in the three classes of eucaryotic RNA polymerases. Given that RNA polymerase I is confined to the nucleolus, and that the onion cell nucleolus lacks digitations of extranucleolar chromatin, we conclude that the nucleolar enzyme localized is RNA polymerase I. A quantitative approach, independent of the existence of borderlines between nucleolar fibrillar centres and the dense fibrillar component, allowed us to show that the enzyme is localized in fibrillar centres and in the transition area between them and the dense fibrillar component, in parallel with the nucleolar DNA. These results, together with previous autoradiographic, cytochemical and immunocytochemical results, in this and other species, lead us to conclude that the activation of rDNA for transcription occurs in the fibrillar centres and pre-rRNA synthesis is expressed at the transition area between fibrillar centres and the dense fibrillar component. Fibrillar centres are connected to each other by extended RNA polymerase-bound DNA fibres, presumably active in transcription. This work provides evidence of the high evolutionary conservation of some domains of the large subunit of RNA polymerases and of the existence of fibrillar centres in the nucleolus of plant cells, totally homologous to those described in mammalian cells.


2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5541-5553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hobert Wai ◽  
Katsuki Johzuka ◽  
Loan Vu ◽  
Kristilyn Eliason ◽  
Takehiko Kobayashi ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT At the end of the 35S rRNA gene within ribosomal DNA (rDNA) repeats in Saccharomyces cerevisiae lies an enhancer that has been shown to greatly stimulate rDNA transcription in ectopic reporter systems. We found, however, that the enhancer is not necessary for normal levels of rRNA synthesis from chromosomal rDNA or for cell growth. Yeast strains which have the entire enhancer from rDNA deleted did not show any defects in growth or rRNA synthesis. We found that the stimulatory activity of the enhancer for ectopic reporters is not observed in cells with disrupted nucleolar structures, suggesting that reporter genes are in general poorly accessible to RNA polymerase I (Pol I) machinery in the nucleolus and that the enhancer improves accessibility. We also found that a fob1 mutation abolishes transcription from the enhancer-dependent rDNA promoter integrated at the HIS4 locus without any effect on transcription from chromosomal rDNA. FOB1 is required for recombination hot spot (HOT1) activity, which also requires the enhancer region, and for recombination within rDNA repeats. We suggest that Fob1 protein stimulates interactions between rDNA repeats through the enhancer region, thus helping ectopic rDNA promoters to recruit the Pol I machinery normally present in the nucleolus.


1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 829-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Derenzini ◽  
F Farabegoli ◽  
D Trerè

We studied the distribution of DNA in human circulating lymphocyte nucleoli using three different cytochemical methods for selective visualization of DNA in thin sections: the Feulgen-like osmium-ammine reaction, the NAMA-Ur procedure, and the osmium-ammine staining in glycine buffer, pH 1.5. All three methods indicated the presence of uniformly distributed, highly decondensed DNA filaments forming a large solitary agglomerate in the central part of the nucleolar area, corresponding to the solitary large fibrillar center (FC) as revealed by uranium and lead staining. We also studied the relationship between DNA agglomerates and nucleolar fibrillar components in resting and phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-stimulated lymphocytes by morphometric analysis of the areas occupied by these structures. In resting lymphocytes the mean area of the DNA agglomerates was 0.479 micron 2 +/- 0.161 SD, whereas that of FCs was 0.380 micron 2 +/- 0.149 SD, with a ratio of 1.26. In PHA-stimulated lymphocytes the mean area of the DNA agglomerates was 0.116 micron 2 +/- 0.056 SD, whereas that of the FCs was 0.075 micron 2 +/- 0.032 SD, with a ratio of 1.55. In PHA-stimulated lymphocytes we also measured the area occupied by the FCs plus the closely associated dense fibrillar component (DFC). The mean value of these two fibrillar components was 0.206 micron 2 +/- 0.081 SD. These data demonstrate that decondensed DNA filaments are uniformly distributed in the FCs and that in transcriptionally active nucleoli they are also present in the proximal portion of the DFC surrounding the FCs.


2001 ◽  
Vol 114 (17) ◽  
pp. 3199-3205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Biggiogera ◽  
Manuela Malatesta ◽  
Sousan Abolhassani-Dadras ◽  
François Amalric ◽  
Lawrence I. Rothblum ◽  
...  

We carried out a high-resolution ultrastructural analysis of the nucleolus in mouse P815 cells by combining specific DNA and RNA staining, anti-fibrillarin immunolabeling, contrast enhancement by energy filtering TEM and phosphorus mapping by ESI to visualize nucleic acids. We demonstrated that specifically contrasted DNA, fibrillarin and phosphorus overlap within the nucleolar dense fibrillar component. Moreover, we describe a ‘DNA cloud’ consisting of an inner core of DNA fibers (fibrillar center) and a periphery made of extremely thin fibrils overlapping the anti-fibrillarin immunolabeling (dense fibrillar component). This highly sensitive approach has allowed us to demonstrate, for the first time, the exact distribution of DNA within the decondensed interphase counterpart of the NOR, which includes both the fibrillar center and the dense fibrillar component.


1989 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 1371-1374 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Biggiogera ◽  
S Fakan ◽  
S H Kaufmann ◽  
A Black ◽  
J H Shaper ◽  
...  

The intranucleolar distribution of phosphoproteins B23 and C23 was visualized simultaneously by post-embedding immunoelectron microscopy in HeLa cell nucleoli, using specific antibodies. The data show that proteins B23 and C23 co-localize to the same nucleolar compartments, i.e., the dense fibrillar component and the granular component. Neither of the two antibodies is significantly associated with the fibrillar centers in these cells, although the fibrillar centers appear positive after silver staining. These findings suggest that other unidentified components must be responsible for the silver staining observed in the fibrillar centers of interphase nucleoli. The results are discussed in the light of previously reported data obtained by preembedding immunolabeling techniques and by silver staining, which both suggested a localization of protein C23 inside the fibrillar centers.


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