scholarly journals Protein Kinase C and the stress response pathways are required for kinetochore homeostasis

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Ledesma-Fernández ◽  
Eva Herrero ◽  
Guðjón Ólafsson ◽  
Peter H Thorpe

AbstractKinetochores serve both a structural role linking chromosomes to the mitotic spindle and a regulatory role, controlling the timing of mitosis via the spindle assembly checkpoint. To identify proteins that regulate the kinetochore we used a genome-wide fluorescence microscopy approach. We combined an array of mutants of either non-essential gene deletions or essential temperature-sensitive alleles with fluorescently tagged spindle pole bodies (centrosome) and outer kinetochores. Quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed mutants that affect the levels and distribution of kinetochores respectively. These mutants are enriched for those involved in mRNA processing, chromatin organization, DNA replication/repair and mitosis. Our data show that the Pkc1 kinase maintains the kinetochore focus via its ability to prevent cell stress and this phenotype is rescued by an osmotic stabilizer. These data support the notion that kinetochore and microtubule homeostasis are perturbed by the stress response pathways. Hence this observation provides a candidate mechanism for extracellular stress leading to chromosome segregation defects.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Athea Vichas ◽  
Amanda K. Riley ◽  
Naomi T. Nkinsi ◽  
Shriya Kamlapurkar ◽  
Phoebe C. R. Parrish ◽  
...  

AbstractCRISPR-based cancer dependency maps are accelerating advances in cancer precision medicine, but adequate functional maps are limited to the most common oncogenes. To identify opportunities for therapeutic intervention in other rarer subsets of cancer, we investigate the oncogene-specific dependencies conferred by the lung cancer oncogene, RIT1. Here, genome-wide CRISPR screening in KRAS, EGFR, and RIT1-mutant isogenic lung cancer cells identifies shared and unique vulnerabilities of each oncogene. Combining this genetic data with small-molecule sensitivity profiling, we identify a unique vulnerability of RIT1-mutant cells to loss of spindle assembly checkpoint regulators. Oncogenic RIT1M90I weakens the spindle assembly checkpoint and perturbs mitotic timing, resulting in sensitivity to Aurora A inhibition. In addition, we observe synergy between mutant RIT1 and activation of YAP1 in multiple models and frequent nuclear overexpression of YAP1 in human primary RIT1-mutant lung tumors. These results provide a genome-wide atlas of oncogenic RIT1 functional interactions and identify components of the RAS pathway, spindle assembly checkpoint, and Hippo/YAP1 network as candidate therapeutic targets in RIT1-mutant lung cancer.


2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (11) ◽  
pp. 1753-1763 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hirohisa Masuda ◽  
Takashi Toda

In fission yeast, γ-tubulin ring complex (γTuRC)–specific components Gfh1GCP4, Mod21GCP5, and Alp16GCP6 are nonessential for cell growth. Of these deletion mutants, only alp16Δ shows synthetic lethality with temperature-sensitive mutants of Mzt1MOZART1, a component of the γTuRC required for recruitment of the complex to microtubule-organizing centers. γ-Tubulin small complex levels at mitotic spindle pole bodies (SPBs, the centrosome equivalent in fungi) and microtubule levels for preanaphase spindles are significantly reduced in alp16Δ cells but not in gfh1Δ or mod21Δ cells. Furthermore, alp16Δ cells often form monopolar spindles and frequently lose a minichromosome when the spindle assembly checkpoint is inactivated. Alp16GCP6 promotes Mzt1-dependent γTuRC recruitment to mitotic SPBs and enhances spindle microtubule assembly in a manner dependent on its expression levels. Gfh1GCP4 and Mod21GCP5 are not required for Alp16GCP6-dependent γTuRC recruitment. Mzt1 has an additional role in the activation of the γTuRC for spindle microtubule assembly. The ratio of Mzt1 to γTuRC levels for preanaphase spindles is higher than at other stages of the cell cycle. Mzt1 overproduction enhances spindle microtubule assembly without affecting γTuRC levels at mitotic SPBs. We propose that Alp16GCP6 and Mzt1 act synergistically for efficient bipolar spindle assembly to ensure faithful chromosome segregation.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meera Govindaraghavan ◽  
Alisha A. Lad ◽  
Stephen A. Osmani

ABSTRACTThe G2-M transition inAspergillus nidulansrequires the NIMA kinase, the founding member of the Nek kinase family. Inactivation of NIMA results in a late G2arrest, while overexpression of NIMA is sufficient to promote mitotic events independently of cell cycle phase. Endogenously tagged NIMA-GFP has dynamic mitotic localizations appearing first at the spindle pole body and then at nuclear pore complexes before transitioning to within nuclei and the mitotic spindle and back at the spindle pole bodies at mitotic exit, suggesting that it functions sequentially at these locations. Since NIMA is indispensable for mitotic entry, it has been difficult to determine the requirement of NIMA for subaspects of mitosis. We show here that when NIMA is partially inactivated, although mitosis can be initiated, a proportion of cells fail to successfully generate two daughter nuclei. We further define the mitotic defects to show that normal NIMA function is required for the formation of a bipolar spindle, nuclear pore complex disassembly, completion of chromatin segregation, and the normal structural rearrangements of the nuclear envelope required to generate two nuclei from one. In the remaining population of cells that enter mitosis with inadequate NIMA, two daughter nuclei are generated in a manner dependent on the spindle assembly checkpoint, indicating highly penetrant defects in mitotic progression without sufficient NIMA activity. This study shows that NIMA is required not only for mitotic entry but also sequentially for successful completion of stage-specific mitotic events.


2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1710) ◽  
pp. 20150404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa R. Alcorn ◽  
Davon C. Callander ◽  
Agustín López-Santos ◽  
Yamila N. Torres Cleuren ◽  
Bilge Birsoy ◽  
...  

Although the arrangement of internal organs in most metazoans is profoundly left–right (L/R) asymmetric with a predominant handedness, rare individuals show full (mirror-symmetric) or partial (heterotaxy) reversals. While the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is known for its highly determinate development, including stereotyped L/R organ handedness, we found that L/R asymmetry of the major organs, the gut and gonad, varies among natural isolates of the species in both males and hermaphrodites. In hermaphrodites, heterotaxy can involve one or both bilaterally asymmetric gonad arms. Male heterotaxy is probably not attributable to relaxed selection in this hermaphroditic species, as it is also seen in gonochoristic Caenorhabditis species. Heterotaxy increases in many isolates at elevated temperature, with one showing a pregastrulation temperature-sensitive period, suggesting a very early embryonic or germline effect on this much later developmental outcome. A genome-wide association study of 100 isolates showed that male heterotaxy is associated with three genomic regions. Analysis of recombinant inbred lines suggests that a small number of loci are responsible for the observed variation. These findings reveal that heterotaxy is a widely varying quantitative trait in an animal with an otherwise highly stereotyped anatomy, demonstrating unexpected plasticity in an L/R arrangement of the major organs even in a simple animal. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Provocative questions in left–right asymmetry’.


Author(s):  
Alexander Bartholomäus ◽  
Ivan Fedyunin ◽  
Peter Feist ◽  
Celine Sin ◽  
Gong Zhang ◽  
...  

Environmental stress is detrimental to cell viability and requires an adequate reprogramming of cellular activities to maximize cell survival. We present a global analysis of the response of Escherichia coli to acute heat and osmotic stress. We combine deep sequencing of total mRNA and ribosome-protected fragments to provide a genome-wide map of the stress response at transcriptional and translational levels. For each type of stress, we observe a unique subset of genes that shape the stress-specific response. Upon temperature upshift, mRNAs with reduced folding stability up- and downstream of the start codon, and thus with more accessible initiation regions, are translationally favoured. Conversely, osmotic upshift causes a global reduction of highly translated transcripts with high copy numbers, allowing reallocation of translation resources to not degraded and newly synthesized mRNAs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kotchaphorn Mangkalaphiban ◽  
Feng He ◽  
Robin Ganesan ◽  
Chan Wu ◽  
Richard Baker ◽  
...  

Translation of mRNA into a polypeptide is terminated when the release factor eRF1 recognizes a UAA, UAG, or UGA stop codon in the ribosomal A site and stimulates nascent peptide release. However, stop codon readthrough can occur when a near-cognate tRNA outcompetes eRF1 in decoding the stop codon, resulting in the continuation of the elongation phase of protein synthesis. At the end of a conventional mRNA coding region, readthrough allows translation into the mRNA 3′-UTR. Previous studies with reporter systems have shown that the efficiency of termination or readthrough is modulated by cis-acting elements other than stop codon identity, including two nucleotides 5′ of the stop codon, six nucleotides 3′ of the stop codon in the ribosomal mRNA channel, and stem-loop structures in the mRNA 3′-UTR. It is unknown whether these elements are important at a genome-wide level and whether other mRNA features proximal to the stop codon significantly affect termination and readthrough efficiencies in vivo. Accordingly, we carried out ribosome profiling analyses of yeast cells expressing wild-type or temperature-sensitive eRF1 and developed bioinformatics strategies to calculate readthrough efficiency, and to identify mRNA and peptide features which influence that efficiency. We found that the stop codon (nt +1 to +3), the nucleotide after it (nt +4), the codon in the P site (nt -3 to -1), and 3′-UTR length are the most influential features in the control of readthrough efficiency, while nts +5 to +9 and mRNA secondary structure in the 3′-UTR had milder effects. Additionally, we found low readthrough genes to have shorter 3′-UTRs compared to high readthrough genes in cells with thermally inactivated eRF1, while this trend was reversed in wild-type cells. Together, our results demonstrated the general roles of known regulatory elements in genome-wide regulation and identified several new mRNA or peptide features affecting the efficiency of translation termination and readthrough.


PLoS Genetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. e1009538
Author(s):  
Kotchaphorn Mangkalaphiban ◽  
Feng He ◽  
Robin Ganesan ◽  
Chan Wu ◽  
Richard Baker ◽  
...  

Translation of mRNA into a polypeptide is terminated when the release factor eRF1 recognizes a UAA, UAG, or UGA stop codon in the ribosomal A site and stimulates nascent peptide release. However, stop codon readthrough can occur when a near-cognate tRNA outcompetes eRF1 in decoding the stop codon, resulting in the continuation of the elongation phase of protein synthesis. At the end of a conventional mRNA coding region, readthrough allows translation into the mRNA 3’-UTR. Previous studies with reporter systems have shown that the efficiency of termination or readthrough is modulated by cis-acting elements other than stop codon identity, including two nucleotides 5’ of the stop codon, six nucleotides 3’ of the stop codon in the ribosomal mRNA channel, and stem-loop structures in the mRNA 3’-UTR. It is unknown whether these elements are important at a genome-wide level and whether other mRNA features proximal to the stop codon significantly affect termination and readthrough efficiencies in vivo. Accordingly, we carried out ribosome profiling analyses of yeast cells expressing wild-type or temperature-sensitive eRF1 and developed bioinformatics strategies to calculate readthrough efficiency, and to identify mRNA and peptide features which influence that efficiency. We found that the stop codon (nt +1 to +3), the nucleotide after it (nt +4), the codon in the P site (nt -3 to -1), and 3’-UTR length are the most influential features in the control of readthrough efficiency, while nts +5 to +9 had milder effects. Additionally, we found low readthrough genes to have shorter 3’-UTRs compared to high readthrough genes in cells with thermally inactivated eRF1, while this trend was reversed in wild-type cells. Together, our results demonstrated the general roles of known regulatory elements in genome-wide regulation and identified several new mRNA or peptide features affecting the efficiency of translation termination and readthrough.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1827
Author(s):  
Rong Gao ◽  
Yanyan Luo ◽  
Fahong Yun ◽  
Xuetong Wu ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
...  

The calmodulin-binding transcription activator (CAMTA), as one of the most distinctive families of transcription factors, plays an important role in plant growth and development and in the stress response. However, it is currently unknown whether CAMTA exists in cucumbers and what its function is. In this study, we first identified four CAMTA genes in the cucumber genome using a genome-wide search method. Subsequently, we analyzed their physical and chemical properties, gene structure, protein domains, and phylogenetic relationships. The results show that the structure of CsCAMTAs is similar to that of other plants, and a phylogenetic analysis divides them into three groups. The analysis of cis-acting elements shows that most CsCAMTAs contain a variety of hormones and stress-related elements. The RT-PCR analysis shows that CsCAMTAs have different expression levels in different tissues and can be induced by IAA, ABA, MeJA, NaCl, and PEG. Finally, we analyzed the expression pattern of CsCAMTAs’ alternative spliceosomes under salt and drought stress. The results show that the expression levels of the different spliceosomes are affected by the type of stress and the duration of stress. These data indicate that CsCAMTAs participate in growth and development and in the stress response in cucumbers, a finding which lays the foundation for future CsCAMTAs’ functional research.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khadiza Khatun ◽  
Sourav Debnath ◽  
Arif Hasan Khan Robin ◽  
Antt Htet Wai ◽  
Ujjal Kumar Nath ◽  
...  

Abstract Background CONSTANS-like (CO-like, COL) are putative zinc-finger transcription factors known to play vital role in various plant biological processes such as control of flowering time, regulation of plant growth and development and responses to stresses. However, no systematic analysis of COL family gene regarding the plant development and stress response has been previously performed in any solanaceous crop. In the present study, a comprehensive genome-wide analysis of COL family genes in petunia has been conducted to figure out their roles in development of organs and stress response. Results A total of 33 COL genes, 15 PaCOL genes in P. axillaris and 18 PiCOL genes in P. inflata, were identified in petunia. Subsequently, a genome-wide systematic analysis was performed in 15 PaCOL genes. Considering the domain composition and sequence similarity the 15 PaCOL and 18 PiCOL genes were phylogenetically classified into three groups those are conserved among the flowering plants. Moreover, all of the 15 PaCOL proteins were localized in nucleus. Furthermore, differential expression patterns of PaCOL genes were observed at different developmental stages of petunia. Additionally, transcript expression of 15 PaCOL genes under various abiotic and phytohormone treatments showed their response against stresses. Moreover, several cis-elements related to stress, light-responsive, hormone signaling were also detected in different PaCOL genes. Conclusion The phylogenetic clustering, organ specific expression pattern and stress responsive expression profile of conserved petunia COL genes indicating their involvement in plant growth and development and stress response mechanism. This work provide a significant foundation for understanding the biological roles of petunia COL genes in plant growth, development and in stress response.


Archaea ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian K. Blaby ◽  
Gabriela Phillips ◽  
Crysten E. Blaby-Haas ◽  
Kevin S. Gulig ◽  
Basma El Yacoubi ◽  
...  

With the availability of a genome sequence and increasingly sophisticated genetic tools,Haloferax volcaniiis becoming a model for both Archaea and halophiles. In order forH. volcaniito reach a status equivalent toEscherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, orSaccharomyces cerevisiae, a gene knockout collection needs to be constructed in order to identify the archaeal essential gene set and enable systematic phenotype screens. A streamlined gene-deletion protocol adapted for potential automation was implemented and used to generate 22H. volcaniideletion strains and identify several potentially essential genes. These gene deletion mutants, generated in this and previous studies, were then analyzed in a high-throughput fashion to measure growth rates in different media and temperature conditions. We conclude that these high-throughput methods are suitable for a rapid investigation of anH. volcaniimutant library and suggest that they should form the basis of a larger genome-wide experiment.


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