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Articles by Karl Zawadzki in JoVE

Other articles by Karl Zawadzki on PubMed

Loss of the Dictyostelium RasC Protein Alters Vegetative Cell Size, Motility and Endocytosis

In addition to its previously established roles in cAMP relay and cAMP chemotaxis, loss of signal transduction through the RasC protein was found to impact a number of vegetative cell functions. Vegetative rasC- cells exhibited reduced random motility, were less polarized and had altered F-actin distribution. Cells lacking RasC also contained more protein and were larger in size than wild type cells. These increases were associated with increased liquid phase endocytosis. Despite the increase in cell size, cytokinesis was relatively normal and there was no change in the rate of cell division. rasC- cells also chemotaxed poorly to folate and exhibited reduced F-actin accumulation, reduced ERK2 phosphorylation and reduced Akt/PKB phosphorylation in response to folate, indicating that RasC was also involved in transducing chemotactic signals in vegetative cells.

Single-cell Observations Reveal Intermediate Transcriptional Silencing States

Analysis of transcriptional silencing in Saccharomyces has provided valuable insights into heterochromatin formation and function. However, most of these studies revealed only the average behaviors of populations of cells. Here, we examined transcriptional silencing by monitoring individual yeast cells carrying distinguishable fluorescent reporter genes inserted at two different silent loci. These studies showed that two silent loci in a single cell behave independently, demonstrating that heterochromatin formation is locus autonomous. Furthermore, some silencing mutants with an intermediate phenotype, such as sir1, consist of two distinct populations, one repressed and one derepressed, while other mutants, such as those inactivating the SAS-I histone H4 K16 acetylase, consist of cells all with an intermediate level of expression. Finally, both establishment and decay of silencing can be influenced by specific gene activators, with establishment occurring stochastically over several generations. Thus, quantifying silencing in individual cells reveals aspects of silencing not evident from population-wide measurements.

Chromatin-dependent Transcription Factor Accessibility Rather Than Nucleosome Remodeling Predominates During Global Transcriptional Restructuring in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Several well-studied promoters in yeast lose nucleosomes upon transcriptional activation and gain them upon repression, an observation that has prompted the model that transcriptional activation and repression requires nucleosome remodeling of regulated promoters. We have examined global nucleosome positioning before and after glucose-induced transcriptional reprogramming, a condition under which more than half of all yeast genes significantly change expression. The majority of induced and repressed genes exhibit no change in promoter nucleosome arrangement, although promoters that do undergo nucleosome remodeling tend to contain a TATA box. Rather, we found multiple examples where the pre-existing accessibility of putative transcription factor binding sites before glucose addition determined whether the corresponding gene would change expression in response to glucose addition. These results suggest that selection of appropriate transcription factor binding sites may be dictated to a large extent by nucleosome prepositioning but that regulation of expression through these sites is dictated not by nucleosome repositioning but by changes in transcription factor activity.

Chromatin Remodelers Clear Nucleosomes from Intrinsically Unfavorable Sites to Establish Nucleosome-depleted Regions at Promoters

Most promoters in yeast contain a nucleosome-depleted region (NDR), but the mechanisms by which NDRs are established and maintained in vivo are currently unclear. We have examined how genome-wide nucleosome placement is altered in the absence of two distinct types of nucleosome remodeling activity. In mutants of both SNF2, which encodes the ATPase component of the Swi/Snf remodeling complex, and ASF1, which encodes a histone chaperone, distinct sets of gene promoters carry excess nucleosomes in their NDRs relative to wild-type. In snf2 mutants, excess promoter nucleosomes correlate with reduced gene expression. In both mutants, the excess nucleosomes occupy DNA sequences that are energetically less favorable for nucleosome formation, indicating that intrinsic histone-DNA interactions are not sufficient for nucleosome positioning in vivo, and that Snf2 and Asf1 promote thermodynamic equilibration of nucleosomal arrays. Cells lacking SNF2 or ASF1 still accomplish the changes in promoter nucleosome structure associated with large-scale transcriptional reprogramming. However, chromatin reorganization in the mutants is reduced in extent compared to wild-type cells, even though transcriptional changes proceed normally. In summary, active remodeling is required for distributing nucleosomes to energetically favorable positions in vivo and for reorganizing chromatin in response to changes in transcriptional activity.

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