The Polycomb protein Ezl1 mediates H3K9 and H3K27 methylation to repress transposable elements in Paramecium

ParameciumDB 2019: integrating genomic data across the genus for functional and evolutionary biology

ParameciumDB (https://paramecium.i2bc.paris-saclay.fr) is a community model organism database for the genome and genetics of the ciliate Paramecium. ParameciumDB development relies on the GMOD (www.gmod.org) toolkit. The ParameciumDB web site has been publicly available since 2006 when the P. tetraurelia somatic genome sequence was released, revealing that a series of whole genome duplications punctuated the evolutionary history of the species. The genome is linked to available genetic data and stocks. ParameciumDB has undergone major changes in its content and website since the last update published in 2011. Genomes from multiple Paramecium species, especially from the P. aurelia complex, are now included in ParameciumDB. A new modern web interface accompanies this transition to a database for the whole Paramecium genus. Gene pages have been enriched with orthology relationships, among the Paramecium species and with a panel of model organisms across the eukaryotic tree. This update also presents expert curation of Paramecium mitochondrial genomes.

Functional diversification of Paramecium Ku80 paralogs safeguards genome integrity during precise programmed DNA elimination

Gene duplication and diversification drive the emergence of novel functions during evolution. Because of whole genome duplications, ciliates from the Paramecium aurelia group constitute a remarkable system to study the evolutionary fate of duplicated genes. Paramecium species harbor two types of nuclei: a germline micronucleus (MIC) and a somatic macronucleus (MAC) that forms from the MIC at each sexual cycle. During MAC development, ~45,000 germline Internal Eliminated Sequences (IES) are excised precisely from the genome through a 'cut-and-close' mechanism. Here, we have studied the P. tetraurelia paralogs of KU80, which encode a key DNA double-strand break repair factor involved in non-homologous end joining. The three KU80 genes have different transcription patterns, KU80a and KU80b being constitutively expressed, while KU80c is specifically induced during MAC development. Immunofluorescence microscopy and high-throughput DNA sequencing revealed that Ku80c stably anchors the PiggyMac (Pgm) endonuclease in the developing MAC and is essential for IES excision genome-wide, providing a molecular explanation for the previously reported Ku-dependent licensing of DNA cleavage at IES ends. Expressing Ku80a under KU80c transcription signals failed to complement a depletion of endogenous Ku80c, indicating that the two paralogous proteins have distinct properties. Domain-swap experiments identified the α/β domain of Ku80c as the major determinant for its specialized function, while its C-terminal part is required for excision of only a small subset of IESs located in IES-dense regions. We conclude that Ku80c has acquired the ability to license Pgm-dependent DNA cleavage, securing precise DNA elimination during programmed rearrangements. The present study thus provides novel evidence for functional diversification of genes issued from a whole-genome duplication.

Chromatin Organization in Early Land Plants Reveals an Ancestral Association between H3K27me3, Transposons, and Constitutive Heterochromatin

Genome packaging by nucleosomes is a hallmark of eukaryotes. Histones and the pathways that deposit, remove, and read histone modifications are deeply conserved. Yet, we lack information regarding chromatin landscapes in extant representatives of ancestors of the main groups of eukaryotes, and our knowledge of the evolution of chromatin-related processes is limited. We used the bryophyte Marchantia polymorpha, which diverged from vascular plants circa 400 mya, to obtain a whole chromosome genome assembly and explore the chromatin landscape and three-dimensional genome organization in an early diverging land plant lineage. Based on genomic profiles of ten chromatin marks, we conclude that the relationship between active marks and gene expression is conserved across land plants. In contrast, we observed distinctive features of transposons and other repetitive sequences in Marchantia compared with flowering plants. Silenced transposons and repeats did not accumulate around centromeres. Although a large fraction of constitutive heterochromatin was marked by H3K9 methylation as in flowering plants, a significant proportion of transposons were marked by H3K27me3, which is otherwise dedicated to the transcriptional repression of protein-coding genes in flowering plants. Chromatin compartmentalization analyses of Hi-C data revealed that repressed B compartments were densely decorated with H3K27me3 but not H3K9 or DNA methylation as reported in flowering plants. We conclude that, in early plants, H3K27me3 played an essential role in heterochromatin function, suggesting an ancestral role of this mark in transposon silencing.

TEAD4 modulated LncRNA MNX1-AS1 contributes to gastric cancer progression partly through suppressing BTG2 and activating BCL2

BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are dysregulated in obvious malignancies including GC and exploring the regulatory mechanisms underlying their expression is an attractive research area. However, these molecular mechanisms require further clarification, especially upstream mechanisms.

METHODS

LncRNA MNX1-AS1 expression in GC tissue samples was investigated via microarray analysis and further determined in a cohort of GC tissues via quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assays. Cell proliferation and flow cytometry assays were performed to confirm the roles of MNX1-AS1 in GC proliferation, cell cycle regulation, and apoptosis. The influence of MNX1-AS1 on GC cell migration and invasion was explored with Transwell assays. A xenograft tumour model was established to verify the effects of MNX1-AS1 on in vivo tumourigenesis. The TEAD4-involved upstream regulatory mechanism of MNX1-AS1 was explored through ChIP and luciferase reporter assays. The mechanistic model of MNX1-AS1 in regulating gene expression was further detected by subcellular fractionation, FISH, RIP, ChIP and luciferase reporter assays.

RESULTS

It was found that MNX1-AS1 displayed obvious upregulation in GC tissue samples and cell lines, and ectopic expression of MNX1-AS1 predicted poor clinical outcomes for patients with GC. Overexpressed MNX1-AS1 expression promoted proliferation, migration and invasion of GC cells markedly, whereas decreased MNX1-AS1 expression elicited the opposite effects. Consistent with the in vitro results, MNX1-AS1 depletion effectively inhibited the growth of xenograft tumour in vivo. Mechanistically, TEAD4 directly bound the promoter region of MNX1-AS1 and stimulated the transcription of MNX1-AS1. Furthermore, MNX1-AS1 can sponge miR-6785-5p to upregulate the expression of BCL2 in GC cells. Meanwhile, MNX1-AS1 suppressed the transcription of BTG2 by recruiting polycomb repressive complex 2 to BTG2 promoter regions.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate that MNX1-AS1 may be able to serve as a prognostic indicator in GC patients and that TEAD4-activatd MNX1-AS1 can promote GC progression through EZH2/BTG2 and miR-6785-5p/BCL2 axes, implicating it as a novel and potent target for the treatment of GC.