scholarly journals Polygenic Molecular Architecture Underlying Non-Sexual Cell Aggregation in Budding Yeast

DNA Research ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Li ◽  
L. Wang ◽  
X. Wu ◽  
O. Fang ◽  
L. Wang ◽  
...  
eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan MV West ◽  
Scott C Rosenberg ◽  
Sarah N Ur ◽  
Madison K Lehmer ◽  
Qiaozhen Ye ◽  
...  

The meiotic chromosome axis plays key roles in meiotic chromosome organization and recombination, yet the underlying protein components of this structure are highly diverged. Here, we show that ‘axis core proteins’ from budding yeast (Red1), mammals (SYCP2/SYCP3), and plants (ASY3/ASY4) are evolutionarily related and play equivalent roles in chromosome axis assembly. We first identify ‘closure motifs’ in each complex that recruit meiotic HORMADs, the master regulators of meiotic recombination. We next find that axis core proteins form homotetrameric (Red1) or heterotetrameric (SYCP2:SYCP3 and ASY3:ASY4) coiled-coil assemblies that further oligomerize into micron-length filaments. Thus, the meiotic chromosome axis core in fungi, mammals, and plants shares a common molecular architecture, and likely also plays conserved roles in meiotic chromosome axis assembly and recombination control.


2008 ◽  
Vol 181 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajit P. Joglekar ◽  
David Bouck ◽  
Ken Finley ◽  
Xingkun Liu ◽  
Yakun Wan ◽  
...  

Point and regional centromeres specify a unique site on each chromosome for kinetochore assembly. The point centromere in budding yeast is a unique 150-bp DNA sequence, which supports a kinetochore with only one microtubule attachment. In contrast, regional centromeres are complex in architecture, can be up to 5 Mb in length, and typically support many kinetochore-microtubule attachments. We used quantitative fluorescence microscopy to count the number of core structural kinetochore protein complexes at the regional centromeres in fission yeast and Candida albicans. We find that the number of CENP-A nucleosomes at these centromeres reflects the number of kinetochore-microtubule attachments instead of their length. The numbers of kinetochore protein complexes per microtubule attachment are nearly identical to the numbers in a budding yeast kinetochore. These findings reveal that kinetochores with multiple microtubule attachments are mainly built by repeating a conserved structural subunit that is equivalent to a single microtubule attachment site.


2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (17) ◽  
pp. 6598-6608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinichi Yonekura ◽  
Chun-Yuan Ting ◽  
Guilherme Neves ◽  
Kimberly Hung ◽  
Shu-ning Hsu ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Drosophila N-cadherin (CadN) is an evolutionarily conserved classic cadherin which has a large, complex extracellular domain and a catenin-binding cytoplasmic domain. The CadN locus contains three modules of alternative exons (7a/b, 13a/b, and 18a/b) and undergoes alternative splicing to generate multiple isoforms. Using quantitative transcript analyses and green fluorescent protein-based cell sorting, we found that during development CadN alternative splicing is regulated in a temporal but not cell-type-specific fashion. In particular, exon 18b is predominantly expressed during early developmental stages, while exon 18a is prevalent at the late developmental and adult stages. All CadN isoforms share the same molecular architecture but have different sequences in their extracellular and transmembrane domains, suggesting functional diversity. In vitro quantitative cell aggregation assays revealed that all CadN isoforms mediate homophilic interactions, but the isoforms encoded by exon 18b have a higher adhesive activity than those by its alternative, 18a. Domain-swapping experiments further revealed that the different sequences in the transmembrane domains of isoforms are responsible for their differential adhesive activities. CadN alternative splicing might provide a novel mechanism to fine-tune its adhesive activity at different developmental stages or to restrict the use of high-affinity 18b-type isoforms at the adult stage.


2003 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 460-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Pot ◽  
Vivien Measday ◽  
Brian Snydsman ◽  
Gerard Cagney ◽  
Stanley Fields ◽  
...  

Kinetochore proteins contribute to the fidelity of chromosome transmission by mediating the attachment of a specialized chromosomal region, the centromere, to the mitotic spindle during mitosis. In budding yeast, a subset of kinetochore proteins, referred to as the outer kinetochore, provides a link between centromere DNA-binding proteins of the inner kinetochore and microtubule-binding proteins. Using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation, in vivo localization, and protein coimmunoprecipitation, we have established that yeast Chl4p and Iml3p are outer kinetochore proteins that localize to the kinetochore in a Ctf19p-dependent manner. Chl4p interacts with the outer kinetochore proteins Ctf19p and Ctf3p, and Iml3p interacts with Chl4p and Ctf19p. In addition, Chl4p is required for the Ctf19p-Ctf3p and Ctf19p-Iml3p interactions, indicating that Chl4p is an important structural component of the outer kinetochore. These physical interaction dependencies provide insights into the molecular architecture and centromere DNA loading requirements of the outer kinetochore complex.


eLife ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammy MK Cheng ◽  
Sebastian Heeger ◽  
Raphaël AG Chaleil ◽  
Nik Matthews ◽  
Aengus Stewart ◽  
...  

Mitotic chromosomes were one of the first cell biological structures to be described, yet their molecular architecture remains poorly understood. We have devised a simple biophysical model of a 300 kb-long nucleosome chain, the size of a budding yeast chromosome, constrained by interactions between binding sites of the chromosomal condensin complex, a key component of interphase and mitotic chromosomes. Comparisons of computational and experimental (4C) interaction maps, and other biophysical features, allow us to predict a mode of condensin action. Stochastic condensin-mediated pairwise interactions along the nucleosome chain generate native-like chromosome features and recapitulate chromosome compaction and individualization during mitotic condensation. Higher order interactions between condensin binding sites explain the data less well. Our results suggest that basic assumptions about chromatin behavior go a long way to explain chromosome architecture and are able to generate a molecular model of what the inside of a chromosome is likely to look like.


2011 ◽  
Vol 405 (2) ◽  
pp. 548-559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hornung ◽  
Michael Maier ◽  
Gregory M. Alushin ◽  
Gabriel C. Lander ◽  
Eva Nogales ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
U. Aebi ◽  
P. Rew ◽  
T.-T. Sun

Various types of intermediate-sized (10-nm) filaments have been found and described in many different cell types during the past few years. Despite the differences in the chemical composition among the different types of filaments, they all yield common structural features: they are usually up to several microns long and have a diameter of 7 to 10 nm; there is evidence that they are made of several 2 to 3.5 nm wide protofilaments which are helically wound around each other; the secondary structure of the polypeptides constituting the filaments is rich in ∞-helix. However a detailed description of their structural organization is lacking to date.


Author(s):  
Béatrice Satiat-Jeunemaitre ◽  
Chris Hawes

The comprehension of the molecular architecture of plant cell walls is one of the best examples in cell biology which illustrates how developments in microscopy have extended the frontiers of a topic. Indeed from the first electron microscope observation of cell walls it has become apparent that our understanding of wall structure has advanced hand in hand with improvements in the technology of specimen preparation for electron microscopy. Cell walls are sub-cellular compartments outside the peripheral plasma membrane, the construction of which depends on a complex cellular biosynthetic and secretory activity (1). They are composed of interwoven polymers, synthesised independently, which together perform a number of varied functions. Biochemical studies have provided us with much data on the varied molecular composition of plant cell walls. However, the detailed intermolecular relationships and the three dimensional arrangement of the polymers in situ remains a mystery. The difficulty in establishing a general molecular model for plant cell walls is also complicated by the vast diversity in wall composition among plant species.


Author(s):  
Nobutaka Hirokawa

In this symposium I will present our studies about the molecular architecture and function of the cytomatrix of the nerve cells. The nerve cell is a highly polarized cell composed of highly branched dendrites, cell body, and a single long axon along the direction of the impulse propagation. Each part of the neuron takes characteristic shapes for which the cytoskeleton provides the framework. The neuronal cytoskeletons play important roles on neuronal morphogenesis, organelle transport and the synaptic transmission. In the axon neurofilaments (NF) form dense arrays, while microtubules (MT) are arranged as small clusters among the NFs. On the other hand, MTs are distributed uniformly, whereas NFs tend to run solitarily or form small fascicles in the dendrites Quick freeze deep etch electron microscopy revealed various kinds of strands among MTs, NFs and membranous organelles (MO). These structures form major elements of the cytomatrix in the neuron. To investigate molecular nature and function of these filaments first we studied molecular structures of microtubule associated proteins (MAP1A, MAP1B, MAP2, MAP2C and tau), and microtubules reconstituted from MAPs and tubulin in vitro. These MAPs were all fibrous molecules with different length and formed arm like projections from the microtubule surface.


Author(s):  
G. Lembcke ◽  
F. Zemlin

The thermoacidophilic archaebacterium Sulfolobus spec. B12 , which is closely related to Sulfolobus solfataricus , possesses a regularly arrayed surface protein (S-layer), which is linked to the plasma membrane via spacer elements spanning a distinct interspace of approximately 18 nm. The S-layer has p3-Symmetry and a lattice constant of 21 nm; three-dimensional reconstructions of negatively stained fragments yield a layer thickness of approximately 6-7 nm.For analysing the molecular architecture of Sulfolobus surface protein in greater detail we use aurothioglucose(ATG)-embedding for specimen preparation. Like glucose, ATG, is supposed to mimic the effect of water, but has the advantage of being less volatile. ATG has advantages over glucose when working with specimens composed exclusively of protein because of its higher density of 2.92 g cm-3. Because of its high radiation sensitivity electromicrographs has to be recorded under strict low-dose conditions. We have recorded electromicrographs with a liquid helium-cooled superconducting electron microscope (the socalled SULEIKA at the Fritz-Haber-lnstitut) with a specimen temperature of 4.5 K and with a maximum dose of 2000 e nm-2 avoiding any pre-irradiation of the specimen.


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