The identification of potential regulatory motifs in new sequence data is increasingly important for experimental design. Those motifs are commonly located by matches to IUPAC strings derived from consensus sequences. Although this method is simple and widely used, a major drawback of IUPAC strings is that they necessarily remove much of the information originally present in the set of sequences. Nucleotide distribution matrices retain most of the information and are thus better suited to evaluate new potential sites. However, sufficiently large libraries of pre-compiled matrices are a prerequisite for practical application of any matrix-based approach and are just beginning to emerge. Here we present a set of tools for molecular biologists that allows generation of new matrices and detection of potential sequence matches by automatic searches with a library of pre-compiled matrices. We also supply a large library (> 200) of transcription factor binding site matrices that has been compiled on the basis of published matrices as well as entries from the TRANSFAC database, with emphasis on sequences with experimentally verified binding capacity. Our search method includes position weighting of the matrices based on the information content of individual positions and calculates a relative matrix similarity. We show several examples suggesting that this matrix similarity is useful in estimating the functional potential of matrix matches and thus provides a valuable basis for designing appropriate experiments.

MatInd and MatInspector: new fast and versatile tools for detection of consensus matches in nucleotide sequence data.

Glucose and related sugars repress the transcription of genes encoding enzymes required for the utilization of alternative carbon sources; some of these genes are also repressed by other sugars such as galactose, and the process is known as catabolite repression. The different sugars produce signals which modify the conformation of certain proteins that, in turn, directly or through a regulatory cascade affect the expression of the genes subject to catabolite repression. These genes are not all controlled by a single set of regulatory proteins, but there are different circuits of repression for different groups of genes. However, the protein kinase Snf1/Cat1 is shared by the various circuits and is therefore a central element in the regulatory process. Snf1 is not operative in the presence of glucose, and preliminary evidence suggests that Snf1 is in a dephosphorylated state under these conditions. However, the enzymes that phosphorylate and dephosphorylate Snf1 have not been identified, and it is not known how the presence of glucose may affect their activity. What has been established is that Snf1 remains active in mutants lacking either the proteins Grr1/Cat80 or Hxk2 or the Glc7 complex, which functions as a protein phosphatase. One of the main roles of Snf1 is to relieve repression by the Mig1 complex, but it is also required for the operation of transcription factors such as Adr1 and possibly other factors that are still unidentified. Although our knowledge of catabolite repression is still very incomplete, it is possible in certain cases to propose a partial model of the way in which the different elements involved in catabolite repression may be integrated.

/pdf/yeast-carbon-catabolite-repression-2j8g2s4xlj.pdf

Yeast Carbon Catabolite Repression

Histone variant H2A.Z marks the 5' ends of both active and inactive genes in euchromatin.

Gcn5p is a transcriptional coactivator required for correct expression of various genes in yeast Several transcriptional regulators, including Gcn5p, possess intrinsic histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity in vitro However, whether the HAT activity of any of these proteins is required for gene activation remains unclear Here, we demonstrate that the HAT activity of Gcn5p is critical for transcriptional activation of target genes in vivo Core histones are hyperacetylated in cells overproducing functional Gcn5p, and promoters of Gcn5p-regulated genes are associated with hyperacetylated histones upon activation by low-copy Gcn5p Point mutations within the Gcn5p catalytic domain abolish both promoter-directed histone acetylation and Gcn5p-mediated transcriptional activation These data provide the first in vivo evidence that promoter-specific histone acetylation, catalyzed by functional Gcn5p, plays a critical role in gene activation

/pdf/histone-acetyltransferase-activity-of-yeast-gcn5p-is-4cb1l4n0pu.pdf

Histone acetyltransferase activity of yeast Gcn5p is required for the activation of target genes in vivo

https://escholarship.org/content/qt8tj4k2z0/qt8tj4k2z0.pdf?t=pqrynw

Mechanisms that specify promoter nucleosome location and identity

Pathways to disease from natural variations in human cytoplasmic tRNAs

Phage panning led to the discovery of a disulfide-cyclized peptide CRYPEVEIC that inhibits Pin1 activity with a K(I) of 0.5 μM. NMR chemical shift perturbation experiments show that cyclic CRYPEVEIC binds to the active site of Pin1. Pin1 residues K63 and R68, which bind the phosphate of substrate peptides, do not show a significant chemical shift change in response to binding of cyclic CRYPEVEIC, consistent with absence of phosphate on the peptide. Cyclic CRYPEVEIC adopts a stable conformation with the side chains of the Y, P, V, and I residues packed together on one side of the ring. Cyclic CRYPEVEIC in solution exists as a mixture of two species, with a 1:4 cis/trans ratio for the Y-P bond. This mixture is stabilized to a single conformation when bound to Pin1. The constrained structure of cyclic CRYPEVEIC apparently facilitates high affinity binding without the presence of a phosphate group.

Discovery and characterization of a nonphosphorylated cyclic peptide inhibitor of the peptidylprolyl isomerase, Pin1.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae histone H2B is ubiquitylated at lysine 123 in a process requiring the E2-ubiquitin conjugase, Rad6. We have analyzed gene expression in a strain containing a variant of histone H2B with lysine 123 converted to arginine to address the mechanisms by which ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation of histone H2B affect gene expression. The SAGA complex component, Ubp8, is one of two proteases that remove the ubiquitin moiety at lysine 123. We show that changes in gene expression observed upon deletion of ubp8 are suppressed by htb1
 K123R
 , which provides genetic evidence that Ubp8 alters gene expression through deubiquitylation of histone H2B. Microarray analyses of the htb1
 K123R
 strain show that loss of histone ubiquitylation results in a twofold or greater change in expression of ∼1.5% of the protein coding genes with ∼75% of these increasing. For genes in which ubiquitylation represses expression, ubiquitylation principally acts through its effects on histone methylation. In contrast, decreased expression of the CWP1 gene was not paralleled by deletions of methyltransferase components and is thus likely independent of methylation. Finally, by comparing gene expression changes in the htb1
 K123R
 strain with those in a strain deleted for rad6, we conclude that lysine 123 affects transcription primarily because of it being a site of ubiquitylation.

The role of histone ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation in gene expression as determined by the analysis of an HTB1 K123R Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain

The catalytic domain of the peptidyl-prolyl cis/ trans isomerase Pin1 is a member of the FKBP superfold family. Within its active site are two highly conserved histidine residues, H59 and H157. Despite their sequence conservation in parvulin PPIase domains, the role of these histidine residues remains unclear. Our previous work (Behrsin et al. (2007) J. Mol. Biol. 365, 1143- 1162.) was consistent with a model where one or both histidines had critical roles in a hydrogen bonding network in the active site. Here, we test this model by looking at the effect of mutations to H59 and H157 on Pin1 function, activity, and protein stability. Using a yeast complementation assay, we show that both H59 and H157 can be mutated to non-hydrogen bonding residues and still support viability. Surprisingly, a nonfunctional H59L mutation can be rescued by a mutation of H157, to leucine. This double mutation (H59L/H157L) also had about 5-fold greater isomerase activity than the H59L mutation with a phosphorylated substrate. Structural analyses suggest that rescue of function and activity results from partial rescue of protein stability. Our findings indicate that H59 and H157 are not required for hydrogen bonding within the active site, and in contrast to the active site C113, they do not participate directly in catalysis. Instead, we suggest these histidines play a key role in domain structure or stability.

The dual histidine motif in the active site of Pin1 has a structural rather than catalytic role.

Despite the general requirement for translation fidelity, mistranslation can be an adaptive response. We selected spontaneous second site mutations that suppress the stress sensitivity caused by a Saccharomyces cerevisiae tti2 allele with a Leu to Pro mutation at residue 187, identifying a single nucleotide mutation at the same position (C70U) in four tRNAProUGG genes. Linkage analysis and suppression by SUF9G3:U70 expressed from a centromeric plasmid confirmed the causative nature of the suppressor mutation. Since the mutation incorporates the G3:U70 identity element for alanyl-tRNA synthetase into tRNAPro, we hypothesized that suppression results from mistranslation of Pro187 in Tti2L187P as Ala. A strain expressing Tti2L187A was not stress sensitive. In vitro, tRNAProUGG (C70U) was mis-aminoacylated with alanine by alanyl-tRNA synthetase, but was not a substrate for prolyl-tRNA synthetase. Mass spectrometry from protein expressed in vivo and a novel GFP reporter for mistranslation confirmed substitution of alanine for proline at a rate of ∼6%. Mistranslating cells expressing SUF9G3:U70 induce a partial heat shock response but grow nearly identically to wild-type. Introducing the same G3:U70 mutation in SUF2 (tRNAProAGG) suppressed a second tti2 allele (tti2L50P). We have thus identified a strategy that allows mistranslation to suppress deleterious missense Pro mutations in Tti2.

/pdf/genetic-selection-for-mistranslation-rescues-a-defective-co-2jq2ew8b8i.pdf

Christopher J. Brandl

Papers

Pathways to disease from natural variations in human cytoplasmic tRNAs

Discovery and characterization of a nonphosphorylated cyclic peptide inhibitor of the peptidylprolyl isomerase, Pin1.

The role of histone ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation in gene expression as determined by the analysis of an HTB1 K123R Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain

The dual histidine motif in the active site of Pin1 has a structural rather than catalytic role.

Genetic selection for mistranslation rescues a defective co-chaperone in yeast