A method is described for the rapid purification of RNA polymerase holoenzyme from small amounts of Escherichia coli cells. Chromatography of a crude extract on a single-stranded DNA agarose column followed by gell filtration chromatography gave 95% pure holoenzyme. The enzyme kinetic characteristics on T7 DNA identical to those of RNA polymerase purified by other more laborious procedures.

The segmented negative-sense vRNA genome of influenza A virus is replicated via a complementary RNA (cRNA) intermediate by the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP). The replicative intermediate has been thought to exist as a complementary ribonucleoprotein (cRNP) complex. Development of an RNA-based affinity-purification strategy for the isolation of viral ribonucleoprotein complexes enabled the structural and functional characterisation of the previously uncharacterised cRNP complex. The cRNP exhibits a filamentous double-helical organisation with defined termini, containing the viral RdRP at one end and a loop structure at the other end. In vitro characterisation of cRNP activity led to a proposal of a model of vRNA synthesis that relies on a trans-activating RdRP. The viral RdRP is an important host range determinant indicating that its function is affected by interactions with cellular factors. However, the identities and the roles of most of these factors remain unknown. Affinity-purification followed by mass spectrometry was performed to identify cellular proteins that interact with the viral RdRP. 171 cellular proteins were found to co-purify with the viral RdRP, the most abundant of which were chaperones, cytoskeletal proteins, importins, proteins involved in ubiquitination, kinases and phosphatases, mitochondrial and ribosomal proteins. Among the phosphatases, three subunits of the cellular serine/threonine-protein phosphatase 6 (PP6) were identified. PP6 was found to interact directly with the PB1 and PB2 subunits of the viral RdRP, and siRNA-mediated knockdown of the catalytic subunit of PP6 in infected cells resulted in the reduction of viral RNA accumulation and the attenuation of virus growth. Taken together, these results suggest that PP6 interacts with and positively regulates the activity of the influenza virus RdRP.

Die gegenwärtige Vorstellung von Genexpression in Plastiden leitet sich von der Analyse weniger, individueller Gene ab und ist deshalb noch relativ lückenhaft. In dieser Arbeit sollte daher differenzierende RNA Sequenzierung- eine neue Methode, die zwischen prozessierten und Primärtranskripten unterscheiden kann, verwendet werden, um ein vollständigeres Bild des Transkriptionsprozesses und der RNA Prozessierung von Hordeum vulgare L. (Gerste) Chloroplasten zu erhalten. Plastidengene in höheren Pflanzen können sowohl von einer plastidenkodierten, bakterienähnlichen RNA-Polymerase (PEP), als auch von einer kernkodierten, phagenähnlichen RNA-Polymerase (NEP), die beide unterschiedliche Promotoren erkennen, abgelesen werden. In dieser Arbeit wurde die Verteilung von Transkriptionsstartstellen innerhalb des Plastidengenoms von grünen (reife Chloroplasten; Transkriptionsaktivität von PEP und NEP) und weißen Plastiden (Transkriptionsaktivität von NEP) der Gerstenmutantenlinie albostrians analysiert. Dies führte zu neuen Erkenntnissen bezüglich polymerasenspezifischer Genexpression in Plastiden. Auf Grundlage neuerer Arbeiten wird angenommen, daß nicht kodierende RNAs (ncRNAs) in Chloroplasten vorkommen. Die bisher verwendeten Methoden waren jedoch nicht geeignet, ncRNAs als Primärtranskripte zu identifizieren, die zumindest in Prokaryoten die häufigste Klasse von ncRNAs darstellen. In dieser Arbeit konnte durch dRNA-seq gezeigt werden, daß auch in Plastiden zahlreiche ncRNAs als Primärtranskripte generiert werden. Die wichtigsten Schritte im Prozess der mRNA Reifung in Plastiden sind 5´und 3´ Endformation und intercistronische Prozessierung. Vor Kurzem wurde gezeigt, daß ein PPR (Pentatricopeptide repeat) Protein zur Bildung der Ende von einigen prozessierten Plastiden mRNAs beiträgt, indem es als Hindernis für Exonukleasen wirkt. Mit dieser Arbeit konnte gezeigt werden, daß dies ein genereller Mechanismus zur Bildung prozessierter mRNA-Enden in Chloroplasten ist. / The current view on plastid gene expression is mainly based on the analysis of a few individual genes, and thus it is lacking in comprehensiveness. Here, a novel differential RNA-seq approach, designed to discriminate between primary and processed transcripts, was used to obtain a deeper insight into the plastid transcription and RNA maturation of mature barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) chloroplasts. Transcription in plastids of higher plants is dependent on two different transcription machineries, a plastid-encoded bacterial-type RNA polymerase (PEP) and a nuclear-encoded phage-type RNA polymerase (NEP), which recognize distinct types of promoters. This study provided a thorough investigation into the distribution of transcription start sites within the plastid genome of green (mature chloroplasts; transcription by both PEP and NEP) and white (PEP-deficient plastids; transcription by NEP) plastids of the barley line albostrians. This analysis led to new insights on polymerase specific gene expression in plastids. Recent studies have suggested that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are common in chloroplasts. However, they did not directly detect ncRNAs generated via transcription, the so far most abundant class of known regulatory ncRNAs in bacteria. Here, dRNA-seq analysis of the transcriptome of barley chloroplasts demonstrated the existence of numerous ncRNA generated via transcription of free-standing genes. Major events in plastid mRNA maturation include 5’ and 3’ processed end formation and intercistronic processing. Recently, a PPR (pentatricopeptide repeat) protein was shown to participate in the generation of several plastid mRNA processed ends by serving as a barrier to exonucleases. This study provided evidence for the global impact of this mechanism on processed termini formation in chloroplasts.

The first wave of the inducible gene network up-regulated by pathogen-stimulated mononuclear cells encodes a variety of effector proteins with pleitropic biological activities. This class of primary immediate early (IE) genes codes for potent pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines that play a prominent role during the manifestation of inflammatory response. In an attempt to better understand induction mechanisms for such genes, I have focused on those coding for human interleukin-1β (IL1B) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF), which exhibit both transient IE induction as well as cell-type restriction. Employing a combined approach using cell lines and primary cells, reporter transient transfection, chromatin conformational capture and immunoprecipitation, evaluation of transcript integrity, ectopic expression in a non-competent cell type, and comparison to mouse orthologs, I have determined that a complex array of mechanisms interplay in order to distinctly regulate the Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling-dependent induction of these two important pro-inflammatory genes whose deregulation provides the etiology for numerous diseases. Prior to induction, TNF exhibited pre-bound TATA Binding Protein (TBP) and paused RNA Polymerase II (Pol II), which are the hallmarks of poised IE genes. In contrast, IL1B is stringently regulated by long-distance chromosome gyrations, multistep activation through a unique doubly-paused Pol II which, in association with the monocyte lineage factor Spi1/PU.1 (Spi1), maintains a low TBP and Pol II occupancy prior to activation. Activation and DNA binding of the transcription factors C/EBPβ and NF-κB resulted in de novo recruitment of TBP and Pol II to IL1B in concert with a permissive state for elongation mediated by the recruitment of the positive elongation factor b (P-TEFb). This Spi1-dependent mechanism for IL1B transcription, which is unique for a rapidly-induced/poised IE gene, was more dependent upon P-TEFb than was the case for the TNF gene. Nucleosome occupancy and chromatin modification analyses of the IL1B and TNF promoters, revealed activation-specific changes in chromatin marks that are supportive for nucleosome clearance and formation of nucleosome free regions (NFR). Furthermore, ectopic expression of Spi1, along with a TLR surrogate (over-expressed TNF receptor associated factor 6, TRAF6), in a cell line incompetent for IL1B transcription, is observed to prime the cell's endogenous genome for IL1B induction by appropriately phasing promoter nucleosomes and recruiting paused Pol II in a manner reminiscent of that observed in competent monocytes. Here I report a novel connection between the metabolic state of cells and HIF-1α in regulating murine Il1b gene expression. With regard to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) unresponsive state known as endotoxin tolerance, my data revealed that following transient induction, IL1B and TNF remained marked with paused Pol II complexes for up to 24 hours post-stimulation. Upon subsequent LPS exposure, tolerized TNF remained in an unresponsive paused state, while IL1B resumed transcription due to recruitment of positive elongation kinase P-TEFb. Emerging evidence suggests that inflammatory responses of LPS/TLR4 activated macrophages are interconnected with metabolic pathways, resulting in the shift of energy utilization by the cells. Here I report that inhibition of either phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) or glucose metabolism had a greater affect on the transcriptional response of Il1b than of Tnf. The differences between these two genes, especially for endotoxin tolerance, suggest that il1b may play a distinct role from tnf in chronic inflammation. / Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences; / Biological Sciences / PhD; / Dissertation;

<p>The unique C-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), composed of tandem heptad repeats of the consensus sequence YSPTSPS, is subject to differential phosphorylation throughout the transcription cycle. Several RNA processing factors have been shown to bind the appropriately phosphorylated CTD, and this facilitates their localization to nascent pre-mRNA during transcription. In <italic>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</italic>, the mRNA export protein Yra1 (ALY/REF in metazoa) has been shown to cotranscriptionally associate with mRNA and is thought to deliver it to the nuclear pore complex for export to the cytoplasm. Based on a previous proteomics screen, I hypothesized that Yra1 is a <italic>bona fide</italic> phosphoCTD associated protein (PCAP) and that this interaction is responsible for the pattern of Yra1 cotranscriptional association observed <italic>in vivo</italic>. Using <italic>in vitro</italic> binding assays, I show that Yra1 directly binds the hyperphosphorylated form of the CTD characteristic of elongating RNAPII. Using truncations of Yra1, I determined that its phosphoCTD-interacting domain (PCID) resides in the segment comprising amino acids 18-184, which, interestingly, also contains the RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) (residues 77-184). Using UV crosslinking, I found that the RRM alone can bind RNA, although a larger protein segment, extending to the C-terminus (aa 77-226), displays stronger RNA binding activity. Even though the RRM is implicated in both RNA and CTD binding, certain RRM point mutations separate these two functions: thus, mutations that produce defects in RNA binding do not affect CTD binding. Both functions are important <italic>in vivo</italic>, in that RNA binding-defective or CTD binding-defective versions of Yra1 engender growth and mRNA export defects. I also report the construction and characterization of a useful new temperature sensitive <italic>YRA1</italic> allele (<italic>R107AF126A</italic>). Finally, using chromatin immunoprecipitation, I demonstrate that removing the N-terminal 76 amino acids of Yra1 (all of the PCID up to the RRM) results in a 10-fold decrease in Yra1 recruitment to genes during elongation. These results indicate that the PCTD is likely involved directly in cotranscriptional recruitment of Yra1 to active genes.</p> / Dissertation

Mitochondrion is an organelle found in the eukaryotic cell. It is responsible for essential metabolic processes as well as ATP production via oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). The mitochondrion contains DNA that encodes for several subunits in the OXPHOS system as well as rRNA and tRNA for translation. It also has its own replication, transcription and translation machinery. Proper maintenance of the mitochondrial DNA is critical for the cell’s health. Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondrial transcription system has been a great model system for its ease of genetic manipulation as well as having conserved RNA polymerases across species. The polymerases are homologues to T7 RNA polymerase, but have longer N-terminal domain and require transcription factor(s). The reason for the extra domain as well as the need for an accessory factor is still unclear. This study reveals the role of Rpo41 N-terminal domain (NTD) as well as clarifies the role of Mtf1, the transcription factor, in transcription initiation. Rpo41 is the 153 kDa catalytic subunit, and Mtf1 is 40 kDa, the transcription factor of the yeast mitochondria. We have shown that Mtf1 is required for correct promoter sequence recognition as well as inhibition of incorrect initiation. Although it was thought that Rpo41 has intrinsic promoter recognition capability, we have shown that Rpo41 can initiate transcription on a pre-melted DNA, even if it is not the consensus promoter sequence. N-terminal truncation mutant studies showed that the NTD of Rpo41 is also required for correct transcription initiation. On linear duplex DNA, N-terminal truncation of 321 amino acids has little effect when Mtf1 is present. On pre-melted DNA, it shows opposite trend from the wild-type. 160 N-terminal amino acid residue truncation shows little activity, whereas Mtf1 increases activity, even on non-promoter initiation sites. We further investigated properties of Rpo41 in replication. A link between mitochondrial transcription and replication has been suggested before, where Rpo41 functions as the leading strand primase. Our studies show that Rpo41 can indeed function as the leading and lagging strand primase, and explains why Rpo41 is able to initiate transcription on non-promoter sites. N-terminal truncation resulted in loss of primase activity, which shows that NTD is required for replication. / text

Several mechanisms have been proposed for the pol I transcript termination in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Two well known models are “Pause and Release” and “Torpedo”. Each mechanism explains the role of some of the cis- and trans-factors in transcript termination and the eventual maturation of the ribosomal RNA, but neither mechanism can explain all the experimental observations. A recent study has suggested that each of the two mechanisms can terminate the pol I transcription independently but with significantly less efficiency than the presence of both mechanisms. To help clarify the reasons for the discrepancies in these data, in this study the suggested mechanisms were examined further in three areas by using alternative techniques. First, the effect of uracil concentration or selection times on the transformation frequency of alternative 3’external transcribed spacer (3’ETS) constructs were assessed. Consistent with the previous results a construct containing the full 3’ETS showed the higher transformation frequencies compared with a construct containing only the hairpin or only the termination sites. However, results showed neither the uracil concentration nor selection times have a significant effect on the transformation frequency. Second, to further confirm the “pause and release” mechanism, the termination sites identified by S1 nuclease studies were analyzed using ligation-mediated RT-PCR. The 3’ terminus of the mature 25S rRNA was demonstrated readily but, unexpectedly, the 3’termini of the 3’ETS precursor molecules were not detected, possibly because of their specific structure. Finally, the 3’ extended rRNA precursors were studied by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. These appeared not to correspond with past nuclease protection analyses nor did they demonstrate downstream exonuclease function, observations which question our current understanding of Pol I transcript termination.

The work presented in this thesis applies integrative genomic and experimental approaches to investigate mechanisms involved in regulation of gene expression in the context of disease and normal cell biology. In papers I and II, we have explored the role of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in multiple myeloma (MM). By using a bioinformatic approach we identified the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) to be a common denominator for the underexpressed gene signature in MM. By using inhibitors of the PRC2 we showed an activation of the genes silenced by H3K27me3 and a reduction in the tumor load and increased overall survival in the in vivo 5TMM model. Using ChIP-sequencing we defined the distribution of H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 marks in MM patients cells. In an integrated bioinformatic approach, the H3K27me3-associated genes significantly correlated to under-expression in patients with less favorable survival. Thus, our data indicates the presence of a common under-expressed gene profile and provides a rationale for implementing new therapies focusing on epigenetic alterations in MM. In paper III we address the existence of a small cell population in MM presenting with differential tumorigenic properties in the 5T33MM murine model. We report that the predominant population of CD138+ cells had higher engraftment potential, higher clonogenic growth, whereas the CD138- MM cells presented with less mature phenotype and higher drug resistance. Our findings suggest that while designing treatment regimes for MM, both the cellpopulations must be targeted. In paper IV we have studied the general mechanism of differential gene expression regulation by CGGBP1 in response to growth signals in normal human fibroblasts. We found that CGGBP1 binding affects global gene expression by RNA Polymerase II. This is mediated by Alu RNAdependentinhibition of RNA Polymerase II. In presence of growth signals CGGBP1 is retained in the nuclei and exhibits enhanced Alu binding thus inhibiting RNA Polymerase III binding on Alus. Hence we suggest a mechanism by which CGGBP1 orchestrates Alu RNA-mediated regulation of RNA Polymerase II. This thesis provides new insights for using integrative bioinformatic approaches to decipher gene expression regulation mechanisms in MM and in normal cells.

The work presented in this thesis applies integrative genomic and experimental approaches to investigate mechanisms involved in regulation of gene expression in the context of disease and normal cell biology. In papers I and II, we have explored the role of epigenetic regulation of gene expression in multiple myeloma (MM). By using a bioinformatic approach we identified the Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2) to be a common denominator for the underexpressed gene signature in MM. By using inhibitors of the PRC2 we showed an activation of the genes silenced by H3K27me3 and a reduction in the tumor load and increased overall survival in the in vivo 5TMM model. Using ChIP-sequencing we defined the distribution of H3K27me3 and H3K4me3 marks in MM patients cells. In an integrated bioinformatic approach, the H3K27me3-associated genes significantly correlated to under-expression in patients with less favorable survival. Thus, our data indicates the presence of a common under-expressed gene profile and provides a rationale for implementing new therapies focusing on epigenetic alterations in MM. In paper III we address the existence of a small cell population in MM presenting with differential tumorigenic properties in the 5T33MM murine model. We report that the predominant population of CD138+ cells had higher engraftment potential, higher clonogenic growth, whereas the CD138- MM cells presented with less mature phenotype and higher drug resistance. Our findings suggest that while designing treatment regimes for MM, both the cellpopulations must be targeted. In paper IV we have studied the general mechanism of differential gene expression regulation by CGGBP1 in response to growth signals in normal human fibroblasts. We found that CGGBP1 binding affects global gene expression by RNA Polymerase II. This is mediated by Alu RNAdependentinhibition of RNA Polymerase II. In presence of growth signals CGGBP1 is retained in the nuclei and exhibits enhanced Alu binding thus inhibiting RNA Polymerase III binding on Alus. Hence we suggest a mechanism by which CGGBP1 orchestrates Alu RNA-mediated regulation of RNA Polymerase II. This thesis provides new insights for using integrative bioinformatic approaches to decipher gene expression regulation mechanisms in MM and in normal cells.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.