Transcription in Archaea: preparation of Methanocaldococcus jannaschii transcription machinery

DNA-bridging by an archaeal histone variant via a unique tetramerisation interface

In eukaryotes, histone paralogues form obligate heterodimers such as H3/H4 and H2A/H2B that assemble into octameric nucleosome particles. Archaeal histones are dimeric and assemble on DNA into 'hypernucleosome' particles of varying sizes with each dimer wrapping 30 bp of DNA. These are composed of canonical and variant histone paralogues, but the function of these variants is poorly understood. Here, we characterise the structure and function of the histone paralogue MJ1647 from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii that has a unique C-terminal extension enabling homotetramerisation. The 1.9 Å X-ray structure of a dimeric MJ1647 species, structural modelling of the tetramer, and site-directed mutagenesis reveal that the C-terminal tetramerization module consists of two alpha helices in a handshake arrangement. Unlike canonical histones, MJ1647 tetramers can bridge two DNA molecules in vitro. Using single-molecule tethered particle motion and DNA binding assays, we show that MJ1647 tetramers bind ~60 bp DNA and compact DNA in a highly cooperative manner. We furthermore show that MJ1647 effectively competes with the transcription machinery to block access to the promoter in vitro. To the best of our knowledge, MJ1647 is the first histone shown to have DNA bridging properties, which has important implications for genome structure and gene expression in archaea.

Internal transcription termination widely regulates differential expression of operon-organized genes including ribosomal protein and RNA polymerase genes in an archaeon

Genes organized within operons in prokaryotes benefit from coordinated expression. However, within many operons, genes are expressed at different levels, and the mechanisms for this remain obscure. By integrating PacBio-seq, dRNA-seq, Term-seq and Illumina-seq data of a representative archaeon Methanococcus maripaludis, internal transcription termination sites (ioTTSs) were identified within 38% of operons. Higher transcript and protein abundances were found for genes upstream than downstream of ioTTSs. For representative operons, these differences were confirmed by northern blotting, qRT-PCR and western blotting, demonstrating that these ioTTS terminations were functional. Of special interest, mutation of ioTTSs in ribosomal protein (RP)-RNA polymerase (RNAP) operons not only elevated expression of the downstream RNAP genes but also decreased production of the assembled RNAP complex, slowed whole cell transcription and translation, and inhibited growth. Overexpression of the RNAP subunits with a shuttle vector generated the similar physiological effects. Therefore, ioTTS termination is a general and physiologically significant regulatory mechanism of the operon gene expression. Because the RP-RNAP operons are found to be widely distributed in archaeal species, this regulatory mechanism could be commonly employed in archaea.

In Vitro Transcription Assay for Archaea Belonging to Sulfolobales

Archaeal transcription and its regulation are characterized by a mosaic of eukaryotic and bacterial features. Molecular analysis of the functioning of the archaeal RNA polymerase, basal transcription factors, and specific promoter-containing DNA templates allows to unravel the mechanisms of transcription regulation in archaea. In vitro transcription is a technique that allows the study of this process in a simplified and controlled environment less complex than the archaeal cell. In this chapter, we present an in vitro transcription methodology for the study of transcription in Sulfolobales. It is described how to purify the RNA polymerase and the basal transcription factors TATA-binding protein and transcription factor B of Saccharolobus solfataricus and how to perform in vitro transcription reactions and transcript detection. Application of this protocol for other archaeal species could require minor modifications to protein overexpression and purification conditions.

The conserved ribonuclease aCPSF1 triggers genome-wide transcription termination of Archaea via a 3'-end cleavage mode

Transcription termination defines accurate transcript 3′-ends and ensures programmed transcriptomes, making it critical to life. However, transcription termination mechanisms remain largely unknown in Archaea. Here, we reported the physiological significance of the newly identified general transcription termination factor of Archaea, the ribonuclease aCPSF1, and elucidated its 3′-end cleavage triggered termination mechanism. The depletion of Mmp-aCPSF1 in Methanococcus maripaludis caused a genome-wide transcription termination defect and disordered transcriptome. Transcript-3′end-sequencing revealed that transcriptions primarily terminate downstream of a uridine-rich motif where Mmp-aCPSF1 performed an endoribonucleolytic cleavage, and the endoribonuclease activity was determined to be essential to the in vivo transcription termination. Co-immunoprecipitation and chromatin-immunoprecipitation detected interactions of Mmp-aCPSF1 with RNA polymerase and chromosome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the aCPSF1 orthologs are ubiquitously distributed among the archaeal phyla, and two aCPSF1 orthologs from Lokiarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota could replace Mmp-aCPSF1 to terminate transcription of M. maripaludis. Therefore, the aCPSF1 dependent termination mechanism could be widely employed in Archaea, including Lokiarchaeota belonging to Asgard Archaea, the postulated archaeal ancestor of Eukaryotes. Strikingly, aCPSF1-dependent archaeal transcription termination reported here exposes a similar 3′-cleavage mode as the eukaryotic RNA polymerase II termination, thus would shed lights on understanding the evolutionary linking between archaeal and eukaryotic termination machineries.

A global analysis of transcription reveals two modes of Spt4/5 recruitment to archaeal RNA polymerase

The archaeal transcription apparatus is closely related to the eukaryotic RNA polymerase (RNAP) II system, while archaeal genomes are more similar to bacteria with densely packed genes organized in operons. This makes understanding transcription in archaea vital, both in terms of molecular mechanisms and evolution. Very little is known about how archaeal cells orchestrate transcription on a systems level. We have characterized the genome-wide occupancy of the Methanocaldococcus jannaschii transcription machinery and its transcriptome. Our data reveal how the TATA and BRE promoter elements facilitate recruitment of the essential initiation factors TATA-binding protein and transcription factor B, respectively, which in turn are responsible for the loading of RNAP into the transcription units. The occupancies of RNAP and Spt4/5 strongly correlate with each other and with RNA levels. Our results show that Spt4/5 is a general elongation factor in archaea as its presence on all genes matches RNAP. Spt4/5 is recruited proximal to the transcription start site on the majority of transcription units, while on a subset of genes, including rRNA and CRISPR loci, Spt4/5 is recruited to the transcription elongation complex during early elongation within 500 base pairs of the transcription start site and akin to its bacterial homologue NusG.