Single-Molecule Studies of RNA Polymerases

Role of R-Loop Structure in Efficacy of RNA Elongation Synthesis by RNA Polymerase from Escherichia coli

The mechanism of transcription proceeds through the formation of R-loop structures containing a DNA-RNA heteroduplex and a single-stranded DNA segment that should be placed inside the elongation complex; therefore, these nucleic acid segments are limited in length. The attachment of each nucleotide to the 3' end of an RNA strand requires a repeating cycle of incoming nucleoside triphosphate binding, catalysis, and enzyme translocation. Within these steps of transcription elongation, RNA polymerase sequentially goes through several states and is post-translocated, catalytic, and pre-translocated. Moreover, the backward movement of the polymerase, which is essential for transcription pausing and proofreading activity, gives rise to a backtracked state. In the present study, to analyze both the efficacy of transcription elongation complex (TEC) formation and the rate of RNA synthesis, we used a set of model R-loops that mimic the pre-translocated state, post-translocated state, backtracked state, and a misincorporation event. It was shown that TEC assembly proceeds as an equilibrium process, including the simultaneous formation of a catalytically competent TEC as well as a catalytically inactive conformation. Our data suggest that the inactive complex of RNA polymerase with an R-loop undergoes slow conformational changes, resulting in a catalytically competent TEC. It was revealed that the structural features of R-loops affect the ratio between active and inactive states of the TEC, the rate of conformational rearrangements required for the induced-fit transition from the inactive state to the catalytically competent TEC, and the rates of accumulation of both the total RNA products and long RNA products.

Massively parallel analysis of single-molecule dynamics on next-generation sequencing chips

Single-molecule techniques are ideally poised to characterize complex dynamics but are typically limited to investigating a small number of different samples. However, a large sequence or chemical space often needs to be explored to derive a comprehensive understanding of complex biological processes. Here we describe multiplexed single-molecule characterization at the library scale (MUSCLE), a method that combines single-molecule fluorescence microscopy with next-generation sequencing to enable highly multiplexed observations of complex dynamics. We comprehensively profiled the sequence dependence of DNA hairpin properties and Cas9-induced target DNA unwinding-rewinding dynamics. The ability to explore a large sequence space for Cas9 allowed us to identify a number of target sequences with unexpected behaviors. We envision that MUSCLE will enable the mechanistic exploration of many fundamental biological processes.

Spatiotemporally controlled generation of NTPs for single-molecule studies

Many essential processes in the cell depend on proteins that use nucleoside triphosphates (NTPs). Methods that directly monitor the often-complex dynamics of these proteins at the single-molecule level have helped to uncover their mechanisms of action. However, the measurement throughput is typically limited for NTP-utilizing reactions, and the quantitative dissection of complex dynamics over multiple sequential turnovers remains challenging. Here we present a method for controlling NTP-driven reactions in single-molecule experiments via the local generation of NTPs (LAGOON) that markedly increases the measurement throughput and enables single-turnover observations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of LAGOON in single-molecule fluorescence and force spectroscopy assays by monitoring DNA unwinding, nucleosome sliding and RNA polymerase elongation. LAGOON can be readily integrated with many single-molecule techniques, and we anticipate that it will facilitate studies of a wide range of crucial NTP-driven processes.

Probing DNA-protein interactions using single-molecule diffusivity contrast

Single-molecule fluorescence investigations of protein-nucleic acid interactions require robust means to identify the binding state of individual substrate molecules in real time. Here, we show that diffusivity contrast, widely used in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy at the ensemble level and in single-particle tracking on individual (but slowly diffusing) species, can be used as a general readout to determine the binding state of single DNA molecules with unlabeled proteins in solution. We first describe the technical basis of drift-free single-molecule diffusivity measurements in an anti-Brownian electrokinetic trap. We then cross-validate our method with protein-induced fluorescence enhancement, a popular technique to detect protein binding on nucleic acid substrates with single-molecule sensitivity. We extend an existing hydrodynamic modeling framework to link measured diffusivity to particular DNA-protein structures and obtain good agreement between the measured and predicted diffusivity values. Finally, we show that combining diffusivity contrast with protein-induced fluorescence enhancement allows simultaneous mapping of binding stoichiometry and location on individual DNA-protein complexes, potentially enhancing single-molecule views of relevant biophysical processes.

Transcription and translation contribute to gene locus relocation to the nucleoid periphery in E. coli

Transcription by RNA polymerase (RNAP) is coupled with translation in bacteria. Here, we observe the dynamics of transcription and subcellular localization of a specific gene locus (encoding a non-membrane protein) in living E. coli cells at subdiffraction-limit resolution. The movement of the gene locus to the nucleoid periphery correlates with transcription, driven by either E. coli RNAP or T7 RNAP, and the effect is potentiated by translation.

Non-equilibrium effects of molecular motors on polymers

We present a generic coarse-grained model to describe molecular motors acting on polymer substrates, mimicking, for example, RNA polymerase on DNA or kinesin on microtubules. The polymer is modeled as a connected chain of beads; motors are represented as freely diffusing beads which, upon encountering the substrate, bind to it through a short-ranged attractive potential. When bound, motors and polymer beads experience an equal and opposite active force, directed tangential to the polymer; this leads to motion of the motors along the polymer contour. The inclusion of explicit motors differentiates our model from other recent active polymer models. We study, by means of Langevin dynamics simulations, the effect of the motor activity on both the conformational and dynamical properties of the substrate. We find that activity leads, in addition to the expected enhancement of polymer diffusion, to an effective reduction of its persistence length. We discover that this effective "softening" is a consequence of the emergence of double-folded branches, or hairpins, and that it can be tuned by changing the number of motors or the force they generate. Finally, we investigate the effect of the motors on the probability of knot formation. Counter-intuitively our simulations reveal that, even though at equilibrium a more flexible substrate would show an increased knotting probability, motor activity leads to a marked decrease in the occurrence of knotted conformations with respect to equilibrium.

A Single-Molecule View of Archaeal Transcription

The discovery of the archaeal domain of life is tightly connected to an in-depth analysis of the prokaryotic RNA world. In addition to Carl Woese's approach to use the sequence of the 16S rRNA gene as phylogenetic marker, the finding of Karl Stetter and Wolfram Zillig that archaeal RNA polymerases (RNAPs) were nothing like the bacterial RNAP but are more complex enzymes that resemble the eukaryotic RNAPII was one of the key findings supporting the idea that archaea constitute the third major branch on the tree of life. This breakthrough in transcriptional research 40years ago paved the way for in-depth studies of the transcription machinery in archaea. However, although the archaeal RNAP and the basal transcription factors that fine-tune the activity of the RNAP during the transcription cycle are long known, we still lack information concerning the architecture and dynamics of archaeal transcription complexes. In this context, single-molecule measurements were instrumental as they provided crucial insights into the process of transcription initiation, the architecture of the initiation complex and the dynamics of mobile elements of the RNAP. In this review, we discuss single-molecule approaches suitable to examine molecular mechanisms of transcription and highlight findings that shaped our understanding of the archaeal transcription apparatus. We furthermore explore the possibilities and challenges of next-generation single-molecule techniques, for example, super-resolution microscopy and single-molecule tracking, and ask whether these approaches will ultimately allow us to investigate archaeal transcription in vivo.

Studying transcription initiation by RNA polymerase with diffusion-based single-molecule fluorescence

Over the past decade, fluorescence-based single-molecule studies significantly contributed to characterizing the mechanism of RNA polymerase at different steps in transcription, especially in transcription initiation. Transcription by bacterial DNA-dependent RNA polymerase is a multistep process that uses genomic DNA to synthesize complementary RNA molecules. Transcription initiation is a highly regulated step in E. coli, but it has been challenging to study its mechanism because of its stochasticity and complexity. In this review, we describe how single-molecule approaches have contributed to our understanding of transcription and have uncovered mechanistic details that were not observed in conventional assays because of ensemble averaging.

Energy-based scheme for reconstruction of piecewise constant signals observed in the movement of molecular machines

Analyzing the physical and chemical properties of single DNA-based molecular machines such as polymerases and helicases requires to track stepping motion on the length scale of base pairs. Although high-resolution instruments have been developed that are capable of reaching that limit, individual steps are oftentimes hidden by experimental noise which complicates data processing. Here we present an effective two-step algorithm which detects steps in a high-bandwidth signal by minimizing an energy-based model (energy-based step finder, EBS). First, an efficient convex denoising scheme is applied which allows compression to tuples of amplitudes and plateau lengths. Second, a combinatorial clustering algorithm formulated on a graph is used to assign steps to the tuple data while accounting for prior information. Performance of the algorithm was tested on Poissonian stepping data simulated based on published kinetics data of RNA polymerase II (pol II). Comparison to existing step-finding methods shows that EBS is superior in speed while providing competitive step-detection results, especially in challenging situations. Moreover, the capability to detect backtracked intervals in experimental data of pol II as well as to detect stepping behavior of the Phi29 DNA packaging motor is demonstrated.

Single molecule studies of RNA polymerase II transcription in vitro

Eukaryotic mRNA transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) is the first step in gene expression and a key determinant of cellular regulation. Elucidating the mechanism by which RNAP II synthesizes RNA is therefore vital to determining how genes are controlled under diverse biological conditions. Significant advances in understanding RNAP II transcription have been achieved using classical biochemical and structural techniques; however, aspects of the transcription mechanism cannot be assessed using these approaches. The application of single-molecule techniques to study RNAP II transcription has provided new insight only obtainable by studying molecules in this complex system one at a time.

Protein-induced supramolecular disassembly of amphiphilic polypeptide nanoassemblies

Mimicking noncovalent interaction based processes in nature has been an important goal of supramolecular chemistry. Here, we report on amphiphilic polypeptides that self-assemble to form nanoscale supramolecular assemblies and are programmed to disassemble in response to a specific protein. Benzenesulfonamide and carbonic anhydrase have been chosen as the ligand and protein, respectively, to demonstrate this possibility. Since the amphiphilic nanoassembly sequesters hydrophobic guest molecules, the protein-specific disassembly event provides a protein-sensitive molecular release as well. We envision that the binding induced disassembly and guest release might open up new opportunities for the next generation of supramolecular assemblies for protein-specific delivery and diagnostics.

Fluorescently labeled recombinant RNAP system to probe archaeal transcription initiation

The transcriptional apparatus is one of the most complex cellular machineries and in order to fully appreciate the behavior of these protein-nucleic acid assemblies one has to understand the molecular details of the system. In addition to classical biochemical and structural studies, fluorescence-based techniques turned out as an important--and sometimes the critical--tool to obtain information about the molecular mechanisms of transcription. Fluorescence is not only a multi-modal parameter that can report on molecular interactions, environment and oligomerization status. Measured on the single-molecule level it also informs about the heterogeneity of the system and gives access to distances and distance changes in the molecular relevant nanometer regime. A pre-requisite for fluorescence-based measurements is the site-specific incorporation of one or multiple fluorescent dyes. In this respect, the archaeal transcription system is ideally suited as it is available in a fully recombinant form and thus allows for site-specific modification via sophisticated labeling schemes. The application of fluorescence based approaches to the archaeal transcription apparatus changed our understanding of the molecular mechanisms and dynamics that drive archaeal transcription and unraveled the architecture of transcriptional complexes not amenable to structural interrogation.

Complete architecture of the archaeal RNA polymerase open complex from single-molecule FRET and NPS

The molecular architecture of RNAP II-like transcription initiation complexes remains opaque due to its conformational flexibility and size. Here we report the three-dimensional architecture of the complete open complex (OC) composed of the promoter DNA, TATA box-binding protein (TBP), transcription factor B (TFB), transcription factor E (TFE) and the 12-subunit RNA polymerase (RNAP) from Methanocaldococcus jannaschii. By combining single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer and the Bayesian parameter estimation-based Nano-Positioning System analysis, we model the entire archaeal OC, which elucidates the path of the non-template DNA (ntDNA) strand and interaction sites of the transcription factors with the RNAP. Compared with models of the eukaryotic OC, the TATA DNA region with TBP and TFB is positioned closer to the surface of the RNAP, likely providing the mechanism by which DNA melting can occur in a minimal factor configuration, without the dedicated translocase/helicase encoding factor TFIIH.

Quantitative structural information from single-molecule FRET

Single-molecule studies can be used to study biological processes directly and in real-time. In particular, the fluorescence energy transfer between reporter dye molecules attached to specific sites on macromolecular complexes can be used to infer distance information. When several measurements are combined, the information can be used to determine the position and conformation of certain domains with respect to the complex. However, data analysis schemes that include all experimental uncertainties are highly complex, and the outcome depends on assumptions about the state of the dye molecules. Here, we present a new analysis algorithm using Bayesian parameter estimation based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling and parallel tempering termed Fast-NPS that can analyse large smFRET networks in a relatively short time and yields the position of the dye molecules together with their respective uncertainties. Moreover, we show what effects different assumptions about the dye molecules have on the outcome. We discuss the possibilities and pitfalls in structure determination based on smFRET using experimental data for an archaeal transcription pre-initiation complex, whose architecture has recently been unravelled by smFRET measurements.