scholarly journals Quantitative single-molecule microscopy reveals that CENP-A Cnp1 deposition occurs during G2 in fission yeast

Open Biology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 120078 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lando ◽  
Ulrike Endesfelder ◽  
Harald Berger ◽  
Lakxmi Subramanian ◽  
Paul D. Dunne ◽  
...  

The inheritance of the histone H3 variant CENP-A in nucleosomes at centromeres following DNA replication is mediated by an epigenetic mechanism. To understand the process of epigenetic inheritance, or propagation of histones and histone variants, as nucleosomes are disassembled and reassembled in living eukaryotic cells, we have explored the feasibility of exploiting photo-activated localization microscopy (PALM). PALM of single molecules in living cells has the potential to reveal new concepts in cell biology, providing insights into stochastic variation in cellular states. However, thus far, its use has been limited to studies in bacteria or to processes occurring near the surface of eukaryotic cells. With PALM, one literally observes and ‘counts’ individual molecules in cells one-by-one and this allows the recording of images with a resolution higher than that determined by the diffraction of light (the so-called super-resolution microscopy). Here, we investigate the use of different fluorophores and develop procedures to count the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A Cnp1 with single-molecule sensitivity in fission yeast ( Schizosaccharomyces pombe ). The results obtained are validated by and compared with ChIP-seq analyses. Using this approach, CENP-A Cnp1 levels at fission yeast ( S. pombe ) centromeres were followed as they change during the cell cycle. Our measurements show that CENP-A Cnp1 is deposited solely during the G2 phase of the cell cycle.

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. e201900408 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Korntner-Vetter ◽  
Stéphane Lefèvre ◽  
Xiao-Wen Hu ◽  
Roger George ◽  
Martin R Singleton

Centromeric chromatin in fission yeast is distinguished by the presence of nucleosomes containing the histone H3 variant Cnp1CENP-A. Cell cycle–specific deposition of Cnp1 requires the Mis16–Mis18–Mis19 complex, which is thought to direct recruitment of Scm3-chaperoned Cnp1/histone H4 dimers to DNA. Here, we present the structure of the essential Mis18 partner protein Mis19 and describe its interaction with Mis16, revealing a bipartite-binding site. We provide data on the stoichiometry and overall architecture of the complex and provide detailed insights into the Mis18–Mis19 interface.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (22) ◽  
pp. 5726 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastassia Boudichevskaia ◽  
Andreas Houben ◽  
Anne Fiebig ◽  
Klara Prochazkova ◽  
Ales Pecinka ◽  
...  

Centromeres contain specialized nucleosomes at which histone H3 is partially replaced by the centromeric histone H3 variant cenH3 that is required for the assembly, maintenance, and proper function of kinetochores during mitotic and meiotic divisions. Previously, we identified a KINETOCHORE NULL 2 (KNL2) of Arabidopsis thaliana that is involved in the licensing of centromeres for the cenH3 recruitment. We also demonstrated that a knockout mutant for KNL2 shows mitotic and meiotic defects, slower development, reduced growth rate, and fertility. To analyze an effect of KNL2 mutation on global gene transcription of Arabidopsis, we performed RNA-sequencing experiments using seedling and flower bud tissues of knl2 and wild-type plants. The transcriptome data analysis revealed a high number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in knl2 plants. The set was enriched in genes involved in the regulation of the cell cycle, transcription, development, and DNA damage repair. In addition to comprehensive information regarding the effects of KNL2 mutation on the global gene expression, physiological changes in plants are also presented, which provides an integrated understanding of the critical role played by KNL2 in plant growth and development.


eLife ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Wisniewski ◽  
Bassam Hajj ◽  
Jiji Chen ◽  
Gaku Mizuguchi ◽  
Hua Xiao ◽  
...  

The budding yeast centromere contains Cse4, a specialized histone H3 variant. Fluorescence pulse-chase analysis of an internally tagged Cse4 reveals that it is replaced with newly synthesized molecules in S phase, remaining stably associated with centromeres thereafter. In contrast, C-terminally-tagged Cse4 is functionally impaired, showing slow cell growth, cell lethality at elevated temperatures, and extra-centromeric nuclear accumulation. Recent studies using such strains gave conflicting findings regarding the centromeric abundance and cell cycle dynamics of Cse4. Our findings indicate that internally tagged Cse4 is a better reporter of the biology of this histone variant. Furthermore, the size of centromeric Cse4 clusters was precisely mapped with a new 3D-PALM method, revealing substantial compaction during anaphase. Cse4-specific chaperone Scm3 displays steady-state, stoichiometric co-localization with Cse4 at centromeres throughout the cell cycle, while undergoing exchange with a nuclear pool. These findings suggest that a stable Cse4 nucleosome is maintained by dynamic chaperone-in-residence Scm3.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuting Liu ◽  
Kehui Wang ◽  
Li Huang ◽  
Jicheng Zhao ◽  
Xinpeng Chen ◽  
...  

Centromere identity is defined by nucleosomes containing CENP-A, a histone H3 variant. The deposition of CENP-A at centromeres is tightly regulated in a cell-cycle-dependent manner. We previously reported that the spatiotemporal control of centromeric CENP-A incorporation is mediated by the phosphorylation of CENP-A Ser68. However, a recent report argued that Ser68 phosphoregulation is dispensable for accurate CENP-A loading. Here, we report that the substitution of Ser68 of endogenous CENP-A with either Gln68 or Glu68 severely impairs CENP-A deposition and cell viability. We also find that mice harboring the corresponding mutations are lethal. Together, these results indicate that the dynamic phosphorylation of Ser68 ensures cell-cycle-dependent CENP-A deposition and cell viability.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Pickering ◽  
Lauren Nicole Hollis ◽  
Edridge D’Souza ◽  
Nicholas Rhind

ABSTRACTHow the rate of cell growth is influenced by cell size is a fundamental question of cell biology. The simple model that cell growth is proportional to cell size, based on the proposition that larger cells have proportionally greater synthetic capacity than smaller cells, leads to the predication that the rate of cell growth increases exponentially with cell size. However, other modes of cell growth, including bilinear growth, have been reported. The distinction between exponential and bilinear growth has been explored in particular detail in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We have revisited the mode of fission yeast cell growth using high-resolution time-lapse microscopy and find, as previously reported, that these two growth models are difficult to distinguish both because of the similarity in shapes between exponential and bilinear curves over the two-fold change in length of a normal cell cycle and because of the substantial biological and experimental noise inherent to these experiments. Therefore, we contrived to have cells grow more than two fold, by holding them in G2 for up to eight hours. Over this extended growth period, in which cells grow up to 5.5-fold, the two growth models diverge to the point that we can confidently exclude bilinear growth as a general model for fission yeast growth. Although the growth we observe is clearly more complicated than predicted by simple exponential growth, we find that exponential growth is a robust approximation of fission yeast growth, both during an unperturbed cell cycle and during extended periods of growth.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen H Funk ◽  
Yaman Qalieh ◽  
Daniel Z Doyle ◽  
Mandy M Lam ◽  
Kenneth Y Kwan

Histone variants, which can be expressed outside of S-phase and deposited DNA synthesis-independently, provide replacement histones in terminally post-mitotic cells, including neurons. Histone variants can also serve active roles in gene regulation by modulating chromatin states or enabling nucleosome turnover at regulatory regions. Here, we find that newborn cortical excitatory neurons substantially accumulate the histone H3 variant H3.3 immediately post-mitosis. Co-deletion of H3.3-encoding genes H3f3a and H3f3b from new neurons abrogates this accumulation, and causes widespread disruptions in the developmental establishment of the neuronal transcriptome. These broad transcriptomic changes coincide with neuronal maturation phenotypes in acquisition of distinct neuronal identities and formation of axon tracts. Stage-dependent deletion of H3f3a and H3f3b from (1) cycling neural progenitor cells, (2) neurons immediately after terminal mitosis, or (3) several days later, reveals the first post-mitotic days as a critical window for de novo H3.3. After H3.3 accumulation within this developmental window, co-deletion of H3f3a and H3f3b from neurons causes progressive H3.3 depletion over several months without widespread transcriptional disruptions. Our study thus uncovers a key role for H3.3 in establishing neuronal transcriptome, identity, and connectivity immediately post-mitosis that is distinct from its role in maintaining total histone H3 levels over the neuronal lifespan.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayato Hirai ◽  
Yuki Shogaki ◽  
Masamitsu Sato

Centromeres are established by nucleosomes containing the histone H3 variant CENP-A. CENP-A is recruited to centromeres by the Mis18-HJURP machinery. During mitosis, CENP-A recruitment ceases, implying the necessity of CENP-A maintenance at centromeres, although the exact underlying mechanism remains elusive. Herein, we show that the kinetochore protein Mis6 (CENP-I) retains CENP-A during mitosis in fission yeast. Eliminating Mis6 during mitosis caused immediate loss of pre-existing CENP-A at centromeres. CENP-A loss occurred due to the transcriptional upregulation of non-coding RNAs at the central core region of centromeres, as confirmed by the observation RNA polymerase II inhibition preventing CENP-A loss from centromeres in the mis6 mutant. Thus, we concluded that Mis6 blocks the indiscriminate transcription of non-coding RNAs at the core centromere, thereby retaining the epigenetic inheritance of CENP-A during mitosis.


Author(s):  
John C. Lucchesi

Following mitosis, the particular transcriptional landscape of the parent cell must be faithfully transmitted to daughter cells. Although transcription ceases, not all transcription factors are displaced. DNA methylation has been implicated in the inheritance of chromatin characteristics because maintenance DNA methyl transferases methylate CpG dinucleotides on the newly replicated strand if the corresponding GpC on the parent strand is methylated. Nucleosomes that are deposited on the newly synthesized DNA strands are made up of old and new histones, and some marks present on the old histones are maintained. The proper distribution of nucleosomes and the topological organization of the genome into topologically associating domains (TADs) must be transmitted to daughter cells. Following DNA replication, centromeres must be specified on the daughter chromatids. In most eukaryotes, centromeres are identified by the presence of nucleosomes bearing the histone H3 variant CENP-A. An additional number of proteins and non-coding RNAs originating from centric and pericentromeric DNA repeats associate with centromeres and appear to play a role in centromere function.


2011 ◽  
Vol 195 (4) ◽  
pp. 563-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie C. Coffman ◽  
Pengcheng Wu ◽  
Mark R. Parthun ◽  
Jian-Qiu Wu

The stoichiometries of kinetochores and their constituent proteins in yeast and vertebrate cells were determined using the histone H3 variant CENP-A, known as Cse4 in budding yeast, as a counting standard. One Cse4-containing nucleosome exists in the centromere (CEN) of each chromosome, so it has been assumed that each anaphase CEN/kinetochore cluster contains 32 Cse4 molecules. We report that anaphase CEN clusters instead contained approximately fourfold more Cse4 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and ∼40-fold more CENP-A (Cnp1) in Schizosaccharomyces pombe than predicted. These results suggest that the number of CENP-A molecules exceeds the number of kinetochore-microtubule (MT) attachment sites on each chromosome and that CENP-A is not the sole determinant of kinetochore assembly sites in either yeast. In addition, we show that fission yeast has enough Dam1–DASH complex for ring formation around attached MTs. The results of this study suggest the need for significant revision of existing CEN/kinetochore architectural models.


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