Conspicuous accumulation of transcription elongation repressor hrp130/CA150 on the intron-rich Balbiani ring 3 gene

The Balbiani Ring Story: Synthesis, Assembly, Processing, and Transport of Specific Messenger RNA-Protein Complexes

Eukaryotic gene expression is the result of the integrated action of multimolecular machineries. These machineries associate with gene transcripts, often already nascent precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs). They rebuild the transcript and convey properties allowing the processed transcript, the mRNA, to be exported to the cytoplasm, quality controlled, stored, translated, and degraded. To understand these integrated processes, one must understand the temporal and spatial aspects of the fate of the gene transcripts in relation to interacting molecular machineries. Improved methodology is necessary to study gene expression in vivo for endogenous genes. A complementary approach is to study biological systems that provide exceptional experimental possibilities. We describe such a system, the Balbiani ring (BR) genes in polytene cells in the dipteran Chironomus tentans. The BR genes, along with their pre-mRNA-protein complexes (pre-mRNPs) and mRNA-protein complexes (mRNPs), allow the visualization of intact cell nuclei and enable analyses of where and when different molecular machineries associate with and act on the BR pre-mRNAs and mRNAs.

The FF4 and FF5 domains of transcription elongation regulator 1 (TCERG1) target proteins to the periphery of speckles

Transcription elongation regulator 1 (TCERG1) is a human factor implicated in interactions with the spliceosome as a coupler of transcription and splicing. The protein is highly concentrated at the interface between speckles (the compartments enriched in splicing factors) and nearby transcription sites. Here, we identified the FF4 and FF5 domains of TCERG1 as the amino acid sequences required to direct this protein to the periphery of nuclear speckles, where coordinated transcription/RNA processing events occur. Consistent with our localization data, we observed that the FF4 and FF5 pair is required to fold in solution, thus suggesting that the pair forms a functional unit. When added to heterologous proteins, the FF4-FF5 pair is capable of targeting the resulting fusion protein to speckles. This represents, to our knowledge, the first description of a targeting signal for the localization of proteins to sites peripheral to speckled domains. Moreover, this "speckle periphery-targeting signal" contributes to the regulation of alternative splicing decisions of a reporter pre-mRNA in vivo.

Nucleocytoplasmic mRNP export is an integral part of mRNP biogenesis

Nucleocytoplasmic export and biogenesis of mRNPs are closely coupled. At the gene, concomitant with synthesis of the pre-mRNA, the transcription machinery, hnRNP proteins, processing, quality control and export machineries cooperate to release processed and export competent mRNPs. After diffusion through the interchromatin space, the mRNPs are translocated through the nuclear pore complex and released into the cytoplasm. At the nuclear pore complex, defined compositional and conformational changes are triggered, but specific cotranscriptionally added components are retained in the mRNP and subsequently influence the cytoplasmic fate of the mRNP. Processes taking place at the gene locus and at the nuclear pore complex are crucial for integrating export as an essential part of gene expression. Spatial, temporal and structural aspects of these events have been highlighted in analyses of the Balbiani ring genes.

Identification of the cellular targets of the transcription factor TCERG1 reveals a prevalent role in mRNA processing

The transcription factor TCERG1 (also known as CA150) associates with RNA polymerase II holoenzyme and alters the elongation efficiency of reporter transcripts. TCERG1 is also found as a component of highly purified spliceosomes and has been implicated in splicing. To elucidate the function of TCERG1, we used short interfering RNA-mediated knockdown followed by en masse gene expression analysis to identify its cellular targets. Analysis of data from HEK293 and HeLa cells identified high confidence targets of TCERG1. We found that targets of TCERG1 were enriched in microRNA-binding sites, suggesting the possibility of post-transcriptional regulation. Consistently, reverse transcription-PCR analysis revealed that many of the changes observed upon TCERG1 knockdown were because of differences in alternative mRNA processing of the 3'-untranslated regions. Furthermore, a novel computational approach, which can identify alternatively processed events from conventional microarray data, showed that TCERG1 led to widespread alterations in mRNA processing. These findings provide the strongest support to date for a role of TCERG1 in mRNA processing and are consistent with proposals that TCERG1 couples transcription and processing.

Gene expression in polytene nuclei

Gene expression in eukaryotic cells is a multi-step process. Many of the steps are both co-ordinated and quality controlled. For example, transcription is closely coupled to pre-messenger RNA (mRNA)-protein assembly, pre-mRNA processing, surveillance of the correct synthesis of messenger ribonucleoprotein (mRNP), and export. The coordination appears to be exerted through dynamic interactions between components of the transcription, processing, surveillance, and export machineries. Our knowledge is so far incomplete about these molecular interactions and where in the nucleus they take place. It is therefore essential to analyze the intranuclear steps of gene expression in vivo. Polytene nuclei are exceptionally large and contain chromosomes and individual genes that can be structurally analyzed in situ during ongoing transcription. Furthermore, they contain gene-specific pre-mRNPs/mRNPs that can be visualised and analyzed as they are synthesised on the gene and then followed on their path to the cytoplasm. We describe methods for investigating the structure and composition of active chromatin and gene-specific pre-mRNPs/mRNPs in the context of analyses of gene expression processes in the nuclei of polytene cells.

Localized co-transcriptional recruitment of the multifunctional RNA-binding protein CELF1 by lampbrush chromosome transcription units

The highly-extended transcription units of lampbrush chromosomes (LBCs) offer unique opportunities to study the co-transcriptional events occurring on nascent transcripts. Using LBCs from amphibian oocytes, I investigated whether CELF1, an RNA binding protein involved in the regulation of alternative splicing, mRNA stability and translation, is localized to active transcription units. Antibodies raised against mammalian (CUG-BP1) and amphibian (EDEN-BP) CELF1 were used to immunostain LBC spreads prepared from several species, including Xenopus laevis and the axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum. Up to about 50 separate LBC loci were convincingly immunostained and it was clear that CELF1 was present in the nascent RNPs of lateral loops. Furthermore, myc-tagged CUG-BP1 expressed in microinjected axolotl oocytes was specifically targeted to nascent transcripts of loops that recruit endogenous CELF1. In many active transcription units CELF1 was distinctly localized, being first recruited by nascent transcripts only far downstream of the transcription start site and remaining associated until the end of transcription. Overall it appears possible that the multiple functions of CELF1 in regulating posttranscriptional gene expression could all be predetermined during transcription by virtue of a region-specific binding to the nascent transcripts of target genes.

The arginine methyltransferase CARM1 regulates the coupling of transcription and mRNA processing

The coactivator-associated arginine methyltransferase CARM1 is recruited by many different transcription factors as a positive regulator. To understand the mechanism by which CARM1 functions, we sought to isolate its substrates. We developed a small-pool screening approach for this purpose and identified CA150, SAP49, SmB, and U1C as splicing factors that are specifically methylated by CARM1. We further showed that CA150, a molecule that links transcription to splicing, interacts with the Tudor domain of the spinal muscular atrophy protein SMN in a CARM1-dependent fashion. Experiments with an exogenous splicing reporter and the endogenous CD44 gene revealed that CARM1 promotes exon skipping in an enzyme-dependent manner. The identification of splicing factors that are methylated by CARM1, and protein-protein interactions that are regulated by CARM1, strongly implicates this enzyme in the regulation of alternative splicing and points toward its involvement in spinal muscular atrophy pathogenesis.

The structure of Prp40 FF1 domain and its interaction with the crn-TPR1 motif of Clf1 gives a new insight into the binding mode of FF domains

The yeast splicing factor Prp40 (pre-mRNA processing protein 40) consists of a pair of WW domains followed by several FF domains. The region comprising the FF domains has been shown to associate with the 5' end of U1 small nuclear RNA and to interact directly with two proteins, the Clf1 (Crooked neck-like factor 1) and the phosphorylated repeats of the C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II (CTD-RNAPII). In this work we reported the solution structure of the first FF domain of Prp40 and the identification of a novel ligand-binding site in FF domains. By using chemical shift assays, we found a binding site for the N-terminal crooked neck tetratricopeptide repeat of Clf1 that is distinct and structurally separate from the previously identified CTD-RNAPII binding pocket of the FBP11 (formin-binding protein 11) FF1 domain. No interaction, however, was observed between the Prp40 FF1 domain and three different peptides derived from the CTD-RNAPII protein. Indeed, the equivalent CTD-RNAPII-binding site in the Prp40 FF1 domain is predominantly negatively charged and thus unfavorable for an interaction with phosphorylated peptide sequences. Sequence alignments and phylogenetic tree reconstructions using the FF domains of three functionally related proteins, Prp40, FBP11, and CA150, revealed that Prp40 and FBP11 are not orthologous proteins and supported the different ligand specificities shown by their respective FF1 domains. Our results also revealed that not all FF domains in Prp40 are functionally equivalent. We proposed that at least two different interaction surfaces exist in FF domains that have evolved to recognize distinct binding motifs.

Rules of engagement: co-transcriptional recruitment of pre-mRNA processing factors

The universal pre-mRNA processing events of 5' end capping, splicing, and 3' end formation by cleavage/polyadenylation occur co-transcriptionally. As a result, the substrate for mRNA processing factors is a nascent RNA chain that is being extruded from the RNA polymerase II exit channel at 10-30 bases per second. How do processing factors find their substrate RNAs and complete most mRNA maturation before transcription is finished? Recent studies suggest that this task is facilitated by a combination of protein-RNA and protein-protein interactions within a 'mRNA factory' that comprises the elongating RNA polymerase and associated processing factors. This 'factory' undergoes dynamic changes in composition as it traverses a gene and provides the setting for regulatory interactions that couple processing to transcriptional elongation and termination.