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Barnes AJ, Bennett EF, Vezina B, Hudson AW, Hernandez GE, Nutter NA, Bray AS, Nagpal R, Wyres KL, Zafar MA. Ethanolamine metabolism through two genetically distinct loci enables Klebsiella pneumoniae to bypass nutritional competition in the gut. PLoS Pathog 2024; 20:e1012189. [PMID: 38713723 PMCID: PMC11101070 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2023] [Revised: 05/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Successful microbial colonization of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract hinges on an organism's ability to overcome the intense competition for nutrients in the gut between the host and the resident gut microbiome. Enteric pathogens can exploit ethanolamine (EA) in the gut to bypass nutrient competition. However, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) is an asymptomatic gut colonizer and, unlike well-studied enteric pathogens, harbors two genetically distinct ethanolamine utilization (eut) loci. Our investigation uncovered unique roles for each eut locus depending on EA utilization as a carbon or nitrogen source. Murine gut colonization studies demonstrated the necessity of both eut loci in the presence of intact gut microbiota for robust GI colonization by K. pneumoniae. Additionally, while some Escherichia coli gut isolates could metabolize EA, other commensals were incapable, suggesting that EA metabolism likely provides K. pneumoniae a selective advantage in gut colonization. Molecular and bioinformatic analyses unveiled the conservation of two eut loci among K. pneumoniae and a subset of the related taxa in the K. pneumoniae species complex, with the NtrC-RpoN regulatory cascade playing a pivotal role in regulation. These findings identify EA metabolism as a critical driver of K. pneumoniae niche establishment in the gut and propose microbial metabolism as a potential therapeutic avenue to combat K. pneumoniae infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J. Barnes
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Emma F. Bennett
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Ben Vezina
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andrew W. Hudson
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Giovanna E. Hernandez
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Noah A. Nutter
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Andrew S. Bray
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Ravinder Nagpal
- Department of Health, Nutrition, and Food Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, United States of America
| | - Kelly L. Wyres
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Central Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - M. Ammar Zafar
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America
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2
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Gucwa K, Wons E, Wisniewska A, Jakalski M, Dubiak Z, Kozlowski LP, Mruk I. Lethal perturbation of an Escherichia coli regulatory network is triggered by a restriction-modification system's regulator and can be mitigated by excision of the cryptic prophage Rac. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:2942-2960. [PMID: 38153127 PMCID: PMC11014345 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1234] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 12/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacterial gene regulatory networks orchestrate responses to environmental challenges. Horizontal gene transfer can bring in genes with regulatory potential, such as new transcription factors (TFs), and this can disrupt existing networks. Serious regulatory perturbations may even result in cell death. Here, we show the impact on Escherichia coli of importing a promiscuous TF that has adventitious transcriptional effects within the cryptic Rac prophage. A cascade of regulatory network perturbations occurred on a global level. The TF, a C regulatory protein, normally controls a Type II restriction-modification system, but in E. coli K-12 interferes with expression of the RacR repressor gene, resulting in de-repression of the normally-silent Rac ydaT gene. YdaT is a prophage-encoded TF with pleiotropic effects on E. coli physiology. In turn, YdaT alters expression of a variety of bacterial regulons normally controlled by the RcsA TF, resulting in deficient lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and cell division. At the same time, insufficient RacR repressor results in Rac DNA excision, halting Rac gene expression due to loss of the replication-defective Rac prophage. Overall, Rac induction appears to counteract the lethal toxicity of YdaT. We show here that E. coli rewires its regulatory network, so as to minimize the adverse regulatory effects of the imported C TF. This complex set of interactions may reflect the ability of bacteria to protect themselves by having robust mechanisms to maintain their regulatory networks, and/or suggest that regulatory C proteins from mobile operons are under selection to manipulate their host's regulatory networks for their own benefit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Gucwa
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Ewa Wons
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Aleksandra Wisniewska
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Marcin Jakalski
- 3P-Medicine Laboratory, Medical University of Gdansk, Debinki 7, 80-211 Gdansk, Poland
| | - Zuzanna Dubiak
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Lukasz Pawel Kozlowski
- Institute of Informatics, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics, University of Warsaw, Banacha 2, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Iwona Mruk
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
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3
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Augustijn HE, Karapliafis D, Joosten KMM, Rigali S, van Wezel GP, Medema MH. LogoMotif: A Comprehensive Database of Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles in Actinobacteria. J Mol Biol 2024:168558. [PMID: 38580076 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2024.168558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2024] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Accepted: 03/30/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Actinobacteria undergo a complex multicellular life cycle and produce a wide range of specialized metabolites, including the majority of the antibiotics. These biological processes are controlled by intricate regulatory pathways, and to better understand how they are controlled we need to augment our insights into the transcription factor binding sites. Here, we present LogoMotif (https://logomotif.bioinformatics.nl), an open-source database for characterized and predicted transcription factor binding sites in Actinobacteria, along with their cognate position weight matrices and hidden Markov models. Genome-wide predictions of binding site locations in Streptomyces model organisms are supplied and visualized in interactive regulatory networks. In the web interface, users can freely access, download and investigate the underlying data. With this curated collection of actinobacterial regulatory interactions, LogoMotif serves as a basis for binding site predictions, thus providing users with clues on how to elicit the expression of genes of interest and guide genome mining efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah E Augustijn
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | | | - Kristy M M Joosten
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sébastien Rigali
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, Institut de Chimie, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Gilles P van Wezel
- Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
| | - Marnix H Medema
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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4
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Zhang Z, Huo J, Velo J, Zhou H, Flaherty A, Saier MH. Comprehensive Characterization of fucAO Operon Activation in Escherichia coli. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:3946. [PMID: 38612757 PMCID: PMC11011485 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25073946] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Revised: 03/26/2024] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Wildtype Escherichia coli cells cannot grow on L-1,2-propanediol, as the fucAO operon within the fucose (fuc) regulon is thought to be silent in the absence of L-fucose. Little information is available concerning the transcriptional regulation of this operon. Here, we first confirm that fucAO operon expression is highly inducible by fucose and is primarily attributable to the upstream operon promoter, while the fucO promoter within the 3'-end of fucA is weak and uninducible. Using 5'RACE, we identify the actual transcriptional start site (TSS) of the main fucAO operon promoter, refuting the originally proposed TSS. Several lines of evidence are provided showing that the fucAO locus is within a transcriptionally repressed region on the chromosome. Operon activation is dependent on FucR and Crp but not SrsR. Two Crp-cAMP binding sites previously found in the regulatory region are validated, where the upstream site plays a more critical role than the downstream site in operon activation. Furthermore, two FucR binding sites are identified, where the downstream site near the first Crp site is more important than the upstream site. Operon transcription relies on Crp-cAMP to a greater degree than on FucR. Our data strongly suggest that FucR mainly functions to facilitate the binding of Crp to its upstream site, which in turn activates the fucAO promoter by efficiently recruiting RNA polymerase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhongge Zhang
- Department of Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116, USA; (J.H.); (J.V.); (A.F.)
| | | | | | | | | | - Milton H. Saier
- Department of Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of California at San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093-0116, USA; (J.H.); (J.V.); (A.F.)
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5
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Lara P, Gama-Castro S, Salgado H, Rioualen C, Tierrafría VH, Muñiz-Rascado LJ, Bonavides-Martínez C, Collado-Vides J. Flexible gold standards for transcription factor regulatory interactions in Escherichia coli K-12: architecture of evidence types. Front Genet 2024; 15:1353553. [PMID: 38505828 PMCID: PMC10949920 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1353553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Post-genomic implementations have expanded the experimental strategies to identify elements involved in the regulation of transcription initiation. Here, we present for the first time a detailed analysis of the sources of knowledge supporting the collection of transcriptional regulatory interactions (RIs) of Escherichia coli K-12. An RI groups the transcription factor, its effect (positive or negative) and the regulated target, a promoter, a gene or transcription unit. We improved the evidence codes so that specific methods are incorporated and classified into independent groups. On this basis we updated the computation of confidence levels, weak, strong, or confirmed, for the collection of RIs. These updates enabled us to map the RI set to the current collection of HT TF-binding datasets from ChIP-seq, ChIP-exo, gSELEX and DAP-seq in RegulonDB, enriching in this way the evidence of close to one-quarter (1329) of RIs from the current total 5446 RIs. Based on the new computational capabilities of our improved annotation of evidence sources, we can now analyze the internal architecture of evidence, their categories (experimental, classical, HT, computational), and confidence levels. This is how we know that the joint contribution of HT and computational methods increase the overall fraction of reliable RIs (the sum of confirmed and strong evidence) from 49% to 71%. Thus, the current collection has 3912 reliable RIs, with 2718 or 70% of them with classical evidence which can be used to benchmark novel HT methods. Users can selectively exclude the method they want to benchmark, or keep for instance only the confirmed interactions. The recovery of regulatory sites in RegulonDB by the different HT methods ranges between 33% by ChIP-exo to 76% by ChIP-seq although as discussed, many potential confounding factors limit their interpretation. The collection of improvements reported here provides a solid foundation to incorporate new methods and data, and to further integrate the diverse sources of knowledge of the different components of the transcriptional regulatory network. There is no other genomic database that offers this comprehensive high-quality architecture of knowledge supporting a corpus of transcriptional regulatory interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paloma Lara
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Socorro Gama-Castro
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Heladia Salgado
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Claire Rioualen
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Víctor H. Tierrafría
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Luis J. Muñiz-Rascado
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - César Bonavides-Martínez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Julio Collado-Vides
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad S/N, Cuernavaca, Mexico
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States
- Center for Genomic Regulation, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
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6
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Augustijn HE, Roseboom AM, Medema MH, van Wezel GP. Harnessing regulatory networks in Actinobacteria for natural product discovery. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 2024; 51:kuae011. [PMID: 38569653 PMCID: PMC10996143 DOI: 10.1093/jimb/kuae011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Microbes typically live in complex habitats where they need to rapidly adapt to continuously changing growth conditions. To do so, they produce an astonishing array of natural products with diverse structures and functions. Actinobacteria stand out for their prolific production of bioactive molecules, including antibiotics, anticancer agents, antifungals, and immunosuppressants. Attention has been directed especially towards the identification of the compounds they produce and the mining of the large diversity of biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in their genomes. However, the current return on investment in random screening for bioactive compounds is low, while it is hard to predict which of the millions of BGCs should be prioritized. Moreover, many of the BGCs for yet undiscovered natural products are silent or cryptic under laboratory growth conditions. To identify ways to prioritize and activate these BGCs, knowledge regarding the way their expression is controlled is crucial. Intricate regulatory networks control global gene expression in Actinobacteria, governed by a staggering number of up to 1000 transcription factors per strain. This review highlights recent advances in experimental and computational methods for characterizing and predicting transcription factor binding sites and their applications to guide natural product discovery. We propose that regulation-guided genome mining approaches will open new avenues toward eliciting the expression of BGCs, as well as prioritizing subsets of BGCs for expression using synthetic biology approaches. ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY This review provides insights into advances in experimental and computational methods aimed at predicting transcription factor binding sites and their applications to guide natural product discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hannah E Augustijn
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Anna M Roseboom
- Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Marnix H Medema
- Bioinformatics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Gilles P van Wezel
- Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
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7
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Salgado H, Gama-Castro S, Lara P, Mejia-Almonte C, Alarcón-Carranza G, López-Almazo AG, Betancourt-Figueroa F, Peña-Loredo P, Alquicira-Hernández S, Ledezma-Tejeida D, Arizmendi-Zagal L, Mendez-Hernandez F, Diaz-Gomez AK, Ochoa-Praxedis E, Muñiz-Rascado LJ, García-Sotelo JS, Flores-Gallegos FA, Gómez L, Bonavides-Martínez C, del Moral-Chávez VM, Hernández-Alvarez AJ, Santos-Zavaleta A, Capella-Gutierrez S, Gelpi JL, Collado-Vides J. RegulonDB v12.0: a comprehensive resource of transcriptional regulation in E. coli K-12. Nucleic Acids Res 2024; 52:D255-D264. [PMID: 37971353 PMCID: PMC10767902 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad1072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023] Open
Abstract
RegulonDB is a database that contains the most comprehensive corpus of knowledge of the regulation of transcription initiation of Escherichia coli K-12, including data from both classical molecular biology and high-throughput methodologies. Here, we describe biological advances since our last NAR paper of 2019. We explain the changes to satisfy FAIR requirements. We also present a full reconstruction of the RegulonDB computational infrastructure, which has significantly improved data storage, retrieval and accessibility and thus supports a more intuitive and user-friendly experience. The integration of graphical tools provides clear visual representations of genetic regulation data, facilitating data interpretation and knowledge integration. RegulonDB version 12.0 can be accessed at https://regulondb.ccg.unam.mx.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heladia Salgado
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Socorro Gama-Castro
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Paloma Lara
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Citlalli Mejia-Almonte
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Gabriel Alarcón-Carranza
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Andrés G López-Almazo
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Felipe Betancourt-Figueroa
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Pablo Peña-Loredo
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | | | - Daniela Ledezma-Tejeida
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Lizeth Arizmendi-Zagal
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Francisco Mendez-Hernandez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Ana K Diaz-Gomez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Elizabeth Ochoa-Praxedis
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Luis J Muñiz-Rascado
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Jair S García-Sotelo
- Laboratorio Internacional de Investigación sobre el Genoma Humano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro 76230, Querétaro, Mexico
| | - Fanny A Flores-Gallegos
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Laura Gómez
- Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, Periférico Sur 4809, Arenal Tepepan, Tlalpan, 14610 Ciudad de México, Mexico
- Escuela de Medicina, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México, CDMX 14380, Meéxico
| | - César Bonavides-Martínez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | - Víctor M del Moral-Chávez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
| | | | - Alberto Santos-Zavaleta
- Instituto de Energías Renovables, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Temixco, Morelos 62580, Meéxico
| | | | - Josep Lluis Gelpi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine. Univ. of Barcelona. Av. Diagonal 643, 08028, Barcelona, Spain
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Universitat Pompeu Fabra(UPF), Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, 08003, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Julio Collado-Vides
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, Morelos 62210, Mexico
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Universitat Pompeu Fabra(UPF), Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona, 08003, Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall. Boston, MA 02215, USA
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8
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Xi C, Diao J, Moon TS. Advances in ligand-specific biosensing for structurally similar molecules. Cell Syst 2023; 14:1024-1043. [PMID: 38128482 PMCID: PMC10751988 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2023.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2023] [Revised: 08/23/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
The specificity of biological systems makes it possible to develop biosensors targeting specific metabolites, toxins, and pollutants in complex medical or environmental samples without interference from structurally similar compounds. For the last two decades, great efforts have been devoted to creating proteins or nucleic acids with novel properties through synthetic biology strategies. Beyond augmenting biocatalytic activity, expanding target substrate scopes, and enhancing enzymes' enantioselectivity and stability, an increasing research area is the enhancement of molecular specificity for genetically encoded biosensors. Here, we summarize recent advances in the development of highly specific biosensor systems and their essential applications. First, we describe the rational design principles required to create libraries containing potential mutants with less promiscuity or better specificity. Next, we review the emerging high-throughput screening techniques to engineer biosensing specificity for the desired target. Finally, we examine the computer-aided evaluation and prediction methods to facilitate the construction of ligand-specific biosensors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenggang Xi
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jinjin Diao
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Tae Seok Moon
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA; Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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9
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Lara P, Gama-Castro S, Salgado H, Rioualen C, Tierrafría VH, Muñiz-Rascado LJ, Bonavides-Martínez C, Collado-Vides J. A Gold Standard for Transcription Factor Regulatory Interactions in Escherichia coli K-12: Architecture of Evidence Types. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.25.530038. [PMID: 37163020 PMCID: PMC10168212 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.25.530038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Post-genomic implementations have expanded the experimental strategies to identify elements involved in the regulation of transcription initiation. As new methodologies emerge, a natural step is to compare their results with those from established methodologies, such as the classic methods of molecular biology used to characterize transcription factor binding sites, promoters, or transcription units. In the case of Escherichia coli K-12, the best-studied microorganism, for the last 30 years we have continuously gathered such knowledge from original scientific publications, and have organized it in two databases, RegulonDB and EcoCyc. Furthermore, since RegulonDB version 11.0 (1), we offer comprehensive datasets of binding sites from chromatin immunoprecipitation combined with sequencing (ChIP-seq), ChIP combined with exonuclease digestion and next-generation sequencing (ChIP-exo), genomic SELEX screening (gSELEX), and DNA affinity purification sequencing (DAP-seq) HT technologies, as well as additional datasets for transcription start sites, transcription units and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) expression profiles. Here, we present for the first time an analysis of the sources of knowledge supporting the collection of transcriptional regulatory interactions (RIs) of E. coli K-12. An RI is formed by the transcription factor, its positive or negative effect on a promoter, a gene or transcription unit. We improved the evidence codes so that the specific methods are described, and we classified them into seven independent groups. This is the basis for our updated computation of confidence levels, weak, strong, or confirmed, for the collection of RIs. We compare the confidence levels of the RI collection before and after adding HT evidence illustrating how knowledge will change as more HT data and methods appear in the future. Users can generate subsets filtering out the method they want to benchmark and avoid circularity, or keep for instance only the confirmed interactions. The comparison of different HT methods with the available datasets indicate that ChIP-seq recovers the highest fraction (>70%) of binding sites present in RegulonDB followed by gSELEX, DAP-seq and ChIP-exo. There is no other genomic database that offers this comprehensive high-quality anatomy of evidence supporting a corpus of transcriptional regulatory interactions.
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10
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Hyden B, Carper DL, Abraham PE, Yuan G, Yao T, Baumgart L, Zhang Y, Chen C, O'Malley R, Chen J, Yang X, Hettich RL, Tuskan GA, Smart LB. Functional analysis of Salix purpurea genes support roles for ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulators of sex determination. PLANT DIRECT 2023; 7:e3546. [PMID: 38028649 PMCID: PMC10651977 DOI: 10.1002/pld3.546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2023] [Revised: 10/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
The Salicaceae family is of growing interest in the study of dioecy in plants because the sex determination region (SDR) has been shown to be highly dynamic, with differing locations and heterogametic systems between species. Without the ability to transform and regenerate Salix in tissue culture, previous studies investigating the mechanisms regulating sex in the genus Salix have been limited to genome resequencing and differential gene expression, which are mostly descriptive in nature, and functional validation of candidate sex determination genes has not yet been conducted. Here, we used Arabidopsis to functionally characterize a suite of previously identified candidate genes involved in sex determination and sex dimorphism in the bioenergy shrub willow Salix purpurea. Six candidate master regulator genes for sex determination were heterologously expressed in Arabidopsis, followed by floral proteome analysis. In addition, 11 transcription factors with predicted roles in mediating sex dimorphism downstream of the SDR were tested using DAP-Seq in both male and female S. purpurea DNA. The results of this study provide further evidence to support models for the roles of ARR17 and GATA15 as master regulator genes of sex determination in S. purpurea, contributing to a regulatory system that is notably different from that of its sister genus Populus. Evidence was also obtained for the roles of two transcription factors, an AP2/ERF family gene and a homeodomain-like transcription factor, in downstream regulation of sex dimorphism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brennan Hyden
- Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant ScienceCornell University, Cornell AgriTechGenevaNew YorkUSA
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Dana L. Carper
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Paul E. Abraham
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Guoliang Yuan
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Tao Yao
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Leo Baumgart
- Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryUS Department of Energy Joint Genome InstituteBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Yu Zhang
- Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryUS Department of Energy Joint Genome InstituteBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Cindy Chen
- Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryUS Department of Energy Joint Genome InstituteBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Ronan O'Malley
- Lawrence Berkeley National LaboratoryUS Department of Energy Joint Genome InstituteBerkeleyCaliforniaUSA
| | - Jin‐Gui Chen
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Xiaohan Yang
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Robert L. Hettich
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Gerald A. Tuskan
- Biosciences DivisionOak Ridge National LaboratoryOak RidgeTennesseeUSA
| | - Lawrence B. Smart
- Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant ScienceCornell University, Cornell AgriTechGenevaNew YorkUSA
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11
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Trouillon J, Doubleday PF, Sauer U. Genomic footprinting uncovers global transcription factor responses to amino acids in Escherichia coli. Cell Syst 2023; 14:860-871.e4. [PMID: 37820729 DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2023.09.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Revised: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Our knowledge of transcriptional responses to changes in nutrient availability comes primarily from few well-studied transcription factors (TFs), often lacking an unbiased genome-wide perspective. Leveraging recent advances allowing bacterial genomic footprinting, we comprehensively mapped the genome-wide regulatory responses of Escherichia coli to exogenous leucine, methionine, alanine, and lysine. The global TF Lrp was found to individually sense three amino acids and mount three different target gene responses. Overall, 531 genes had altered RNA polymerase occupancy, and 32 TFs responded directly or indirectly to the presence of amino acids, including regulators of membrane and osmotic pressure homeostasis. About 70% of the detected TF-DNA interactions had not been reported before. We thus identified 682 previously unknown TF-binding locations, for a subset of which the involved TFs were identified by affinity purification. This comprehensive map of amino acid regulation illustrates the incompleteness of the known transcriptional regulation network, even in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Trouillon
- Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Peter F Doubleday
- Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
| | - Uwe Sauer
- Institute of Molecular Systems Biology, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
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12
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Han Y, Li W, Filko A, Li J, Zhang F. Genome-wide promoter responses to CRISPR perturbations of regulators reveal regulatory networks in Escherichia coli. Nat Commun 2023; 14:5757. [PMID: 37717013 PMCID: PMC10505187 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41572-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2023] [Indexed: 09/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Elucidating genome-scale regulatory networks requires a comprehensive collection of gene expression profiles, yet measuring gene expression responses for every transcription factor (TF)-gene pair in living prokaryotic cells remains challenging. Here, we develop pooled promoter responses to TF perturbation sequencing (PPTP-seq) via CRISPR interference to address this challenge. Using PPTP-seq, we systematically measure the activity of 1372 Escherichia coli promoters under single knockdown of 183 TF genes, illustrating more than 200,000 possible TF-gene responses in one experiment. We perform PPTP-seq for E. coli growing in three different media. The PPTP-seq data reveal robust steady-state promoter activities under most single TF knockdown conditions. PPTP-seq also enables identifications of, to the best of our knowledge, previously unknown TF autoregulatory responses and complex transcriptional control on one-carbon metabolism. We further find context-dependent promoter regulation by multiple TFs whose relative binding strengths determined promoter activities. Additionally, PPTP-seq reveals different promoter responses in different growth media, suggesting condition-specific gene regulation. Overall, PPTP-seq provides a powerful method to examine genome-wide transcriptional regulatory networks and can be potentially expanded to reveal gene expression responses to other genetic elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yichao Han
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Wanji Li
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Alden Filko
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Jingyao Li
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
| | - Fuzhong Zhang
- Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
- Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
- Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
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13
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Yu H, Yang H, Haridas S, Hayes RD, Lynch H, Andersen S, Newman M, Li G, Martínez-Soto D, Milo-Cochavi S, Hazal Ayhan D, Zhang Y, Grigoriev IV, Ma LJ. Conservation and Expansion of Transcriptional Factor Repertoire in the Fusarium oxysporum Species Complex. J Fungi (Basel) 2023; 9:359. [PMID: 36983527 PMCID: PMC10056406 DOI: 10.3390/jof9030359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) includes both plant and human pathogens that cause devastating plant vascular wilt diseases and threaten public health. Each F. oxysporum genome comprises core chromosomes (CCs) for housekeeping functions and accessory chromosomes (ACs) that contribute to host-specific adaptation. This study inspects global transcription factor profiles (TFomes) and their potential roles in coordinating CC and AC functions to accomplish host-specific interactions. Remarkably, we found a clear positive correlation between the sizes of TFomes and the proteomes of an organism. With the acquisition of ACs, the FOSC TFomes were larger than the other fungal genomes included in this study. Among a total of 48 classified TF families, 14 families involved in transcription/translation regulations and cell cycle controls were highly conserved. Among the 30 FOSC expanded families, Zn2-C6 and Znf_C2H2 were most significantly expanded to 671 and 167 genes per family including well-characterized homologs of Ftf1 (Zn2-C6) and PacC (Znf_C2H2) that are involved in host-specific interactions. Manual curation of characterized TFs increased the TFome repertoires by 3% including a disordered protein Ren1. RNA-Seq revealed a steady pattern of expression for conserved TF families and specific activation for AC TFs. Functional characterization of these TFs could enhance our understanding of transcriptional regulation involved in FOSC cross-kingdom interactions, disentangle species-specific adaptation, and identify targets to combat diverse diseases caused by this group of fungal pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Houlin Yu
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - He Yang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Sajeet Haridas
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Richard D. Hayes
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Hunter Lynch
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Sawyer Andersen
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Madison Newman
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Gengtan Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Domingo Martínez-Soto
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Shira Milo-Cochavi
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Dilay Hazal Ayhan
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Yong Zhang
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
| | - Igor V. Grigoriev
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94598, USA
| | - Li-Jun Ma
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
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14
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Yu H, Yang H, Haridas S, Hayes RD, Lynch H, Andersen S, Li G, Mart Nez-Soto D, Milo-Cochavi S, Hazal Ayhan D, Zhang Y, Grigoriev IV, Ma LJ. Conservation and Expansion of Transcriptional Factor Repertoire in the Fusarium oxysporum Species Complex. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.02.09.527873. [PMID: 36798233 PMCID: PMC9934661 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.09.527873] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
The Fusarium oxysporum species complex (FOSC) includes both plant and human pathogens that cause devastating plant vascular wilt diseases and threaten public health. Each F. oxysporum genome comprises core chromosomes (CCs) for housekeeping functions and accessory chromosomes (ACs) that contribute to host-specific adaptation. This study inspected global transcription factor profiles (TFomes) and their potential roles in coordinating CCs and ACs functions to accomplish host-specific pathogenicity. Remarkably, we found a clear positive correlation between the sizes of TFome and proteome of an organism, and FOSC TFomes are larger due to the acquisition of ACs. Among a total of 48 classified TF families, 14 families involved in transcription/translation regulations and cell cycle controls are highly conserved. Among 30 FOSC expanded families, Zn2-C6 and Znf_C2H2 are most significantly expanded to 671 and 167 genes per family, including well-characterized homologs of Ftf1 (Zn2-C6) and PacC (Znf_C2H2) involved in host-specific interactions. Manual curation of characterized TFs increased the TFome repertoires by 3%, including a disordered protein Ren1. Expression profiles revealed a steady expression of conserved TF families and specific activation of AC TFs. Functional characterization of these TFs could enhance our understanding of transcriptional regulation involved in FOSC cross-kingdom interactions, disentangle species-specific adaptation, and identify targets to combat diverse diseases caused by this group of fungal pathogens.
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15
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Pokharel P, Dhakal S, Dozois CM. The Diversity of Escherichia coli Pathotypes and Vaccination Strategies against This Versatile Bacterial Pathogen. Microorganisms 2023; 11:344. [PMID: 36838308 PMCID: PMC9965155 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11020344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a gram-negative bacillus and resident of the normal intestinal microbiota. However, some E. coli strains can cause diseases in humans, other mammals and birds ranging from intestinal infections, for example, diarrhea and dysentery, to extraintestinal infections, such as urinary tract infections, respiratory tract infections, meningitis, and sepsis. In terms of morbidity and mortality, pathogenic E. coli has a great impact on public health, with an economic cost of several billion dollars annually worldwide. Antibiotics are not usually used as first-line treatment for diarrheal illness caused by E. coli and in the case of bloody diarrhea, antibiotics are avoided due to the increased risk of hemolytic uremic syndrome. On the other hand, extraintestinal infections are treated with various antibiotics depending on the site of infection and susceptibility testing. Several alarming papers concerning the rising antibiotic resistance rates in E. coli strains have been published. The silent pandemic of multidrug-resistant bacteria including pathogenic E. coli that have become more difficult to treat favored prophylactic approaches such as E. coli vaccines. This review provides an overview of the pathogenesis of different pathotypes of E. coli, the virulence factors involved and updates on the major aspects of vaccine development against different E. coli pathotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pravil Pokharel
- Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 531 Boul des Prairies, Laval, QC H7V 1B7, Canada
- Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Sabin Dhakal
- Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 531 Boul des Prairies, Laval, QC H7V 1B7, Canada
- Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
| | - Charles M. Dozois
- Centre Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 531 Boul des Prairies, Laval, QC H7V 1B7, Canada
- Centre de Recherche en Infectiologie Porcine et Avicole (CRIPA), Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC J2S 2M2, Canada
- Pasteur Network, Laval, QC H7V 1B7, Canada
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16
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Wisniewska A, Wons E, Potrykus K, Hinrichs R, Gucwa K, Graumann PL, Mruk I. Molecular basis for lethal cross-talk between two unrelated bacterial transcription factors - the regulatory protein of a restriction-modification system and the repressor of a defective prophage. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:10964-10980. [PMID: 36271797 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac914] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2022] [Revised: 09/29/2022] [Accepted: 10/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacterial gene expression depends on the efficient functioning of global transcriptional networks, however their interconnectivity and orchestration rely mainly on the action of individual DNA binding proteins called transcription factors (TFs). TFs interact not only with their specific target sites, but also with secondary (off-target) sites, and vary in their promiscuity. It is not clear yet what mechanisms govern the interactions with secondary sites, and how such rewiring affects the overall regulatory network, but this could clearly constrain horizontal gene transfer. Here, we show the molecular mechanism of one such off-target interaction between two unrelated TFs in Escherichia coli: the C regulatory protein of a Type II restriction-modification system, and the RacR repressor of a defective prophage. We reveal that the C protein interferes with RacR repressor expression, resulting in derepression of the toxic YdaT protein. These results also provide novel insights into regulation of the racR-ydaST operon. We mapped the C regulator interaction to a specific off-target site, and also visualized C protein dynamics, revealing intriguing differences in single molecule dynamics in different genetic contexts. Our results demonstrate an apparent example of horizontal gene transfer leading to adventitious TF cross-talk with negative effects on the recipient's viability. More broadly, this study represents an experimentally-accessible model of a regulatory constraint on horizontal gene transfer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aleksandra Wisniewska
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Ewa Wons
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Katarzyna Potrykus
- Department of Bacterial Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Rebecca Hinrichs
- SYNMIKRO, LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany.,Department of Chemistry, Philipps Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse 6, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Katarzyna Gucwa
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
| | - Peter L Graumann
- SYNMIKRO, LOEWE Center for Synthetic Microbiology, Philipps Universität Marburg, Germany.,Department of Chemistry, Philipps Universität Marburg, Hans-Meerwein-Strasse 6, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Iwona Mruk
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, Gdansk 80-308, Poland
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17
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Hajheidari M, Huang SSC. Elucidating the biology of transcription factor-DNA interaction for accurate identification of cis-regulatory elements. CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY 2022; 68:102232. [PMID: 35679803 PMCID: PMC10103634 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2022.102232] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Transcription factors (TFs) play a critical role in determining cell fate decisions by integrating developmental and environmental signals through binding to specific cis-regulatory modules and regulating spatio-temporal specificity of gene expression patterns. Precise identification of functional TF binding sites in time and space not only will revolutionize our understanding of regulatory networks governing cell fate decisions but is also instrumental to uncover how genetic variations cause morphological diversity or disease. In this review, we discuss recent advances in mapping TF binding sites and characterizing the various parameters underlying the complexity of binding site recognition by TFs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Hajheidari
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Department of Biology, New York University, 12 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | - Shao-Shan Carol Huang
- Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, Department of Biology, New York University, 12 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10003, USA.
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18
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Duarte-Velázquez I, de la Mora J, Ramírez-Prado JH, Aguillón-Bárcenas A, Tornero-Gutiérrez F, Cordero-Loreto E, Anaya-Velázquez F, Páramo-Pérez I, Rangel-Serrano Á, Muñoz-Carranza SR, Romero-González OE, Cardoso-Reyes LR, Rodríguez-Ojeda RA, Mora-Montes HM, Vargas-Maya NI, Padilla-Vaca F, Franco B. Escherichia coli transcription factors of unknown function: sequence features and possible evolutionary relationships. PeerJ 2022; 10:e13772. [PMID: 35880217 PMCID: PMC9308461 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13772] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2022] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Organisms need mechanisms to perceive the environment and respond accordingly to environmental changes or the presence of hazards. Transcription factors (TFs) are required for cells to respond to the environment by controlling the expression of genes needed. Escherichia coli has been the model bacterium for many decades, and still, there are features embedded in its genome that remain unstudied. To date, 58 TFs remain poorly characterized, although their binding sites have been experimentally determined. This study showed that these TFs have sequence variation at the third codon position G+C content but maintain the same Codon Adaptation Index (CAI) trend as annotated functional transcription factors. Most of these transcription factors are in areas of the genome where abundant repetitive and mobile elements are present. Sequence divergence points to groups with distinctive sequence signatures but maintaining the same type of DNA binding domain. Finally, the analysis of the promoter sequences of the 58 TFs showed A+T rich regions that agree with the features of horizontally transferred genes. The findings reported here pave the way for future research of these TFs that may uncover their role as spare factors in case of lose-of-function mutations in core TFs and trace back their evolutionary history.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Duarte-Velázquez
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Javier de la Mora
- Departamento de Genética Molecular, Instituto de Fisiología Celular, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, México
| | | | - Alondra Aguillón-Bárcenas
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Fátima Tornero-Gutiérrez
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Eugenia Cordero-Loreto
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Fernando Anaya-Velázquez
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Itzel Páramo-Pérez
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Ángeles Rangel-Serrano
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | | | | | - Luis Rafael Cardoso-Reyes
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | | | - Héctor Manuel Mora-Montes
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Naurú Idalia Vargas-Maya
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Felipe Padilla-Vaca
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
| | - Bernardo Franco
- Biology, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, México
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19
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Liu Y, Xu P. Quantitative and analytical tools to analyze the spatiotemporal population dynamics of microbial consortia. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2022; 76:102754. [PMID: 35809433 DOI: 10.1016/j.copbio.2022.102754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Microorganisms occupy almost every niche on earth. They play critical roles in maintaining ecological balance, atmospheric C/N cycle, and human health. Microbes live in consortia with metabolite exchange or signal communication. Quantitative and analytical tools are becoming increasingly important to study microbial consortia dynamics. We argue that a combined reductionist and holistic approach will be important to understanding the assembly rules and spatiotemporal population dynamics of the microbial community (MICOM). Reductionism allows us to reconstruct complex MICOM from isolated or simple synthetic consortia. Holism allows us to understand microbes as a community with cooperation and competition. Here we review the recent development of quantitative and analytical tools to uncover the underlying principles in microbial communities that govern their spatiotemporal change and interaction dynamics. Mathematical models and analytical tools will continue to provide essential knowledge and expand our capability to manipulate and control microbial consortia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yugeng Liu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China
| | - Peng Xu
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Shantou, Guangdong 515063, China.
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20
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Anderssen S, Naômé A, Jadot C, Brans A, Tocquin P, Rigali S. AURTHO: Autoregulation of transcription factors as facilitator of cis-acting element discovery. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA. GENE REGULATORY MECHANISMS 2022; 1865:194847. [PMID: 35901946 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2022.194847] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptional regulation is key in bacteria for providing an adequate response in time and space to changing environmental conditions. However, despite decades of research, the binding sites and therefore the target genes and the function of most transcription factors (TFs) remain unknown. Filling this gap in knowledge through conventional methods represents a colossal task which we demonstrate here can be significantly facilitated by a widespread feature in transcriptional control: the autoregulation of TFs implying that the yet unknown transcription factor binding site (TFBS) is neighboring the TF itself. In this work, we describe the "AURTHO" methodology (AUtoregulation of oRTHOlogous transcription factors), consisting of analyzing upstream regions of orthologous TFs in order to uncover their associated TFBSs. AURTHO enabled the de novo identification of novel TFBSs with an unprecedented improvement in terms of quantity and reliability. DNA-protein interaction studies on a selection of candidate cis-acting elements yielded an >90 % success rate, demonstrating the efficacy of AURTHO at highlighting true TF-TFBS couples and confirming the identification in a near future of a plethora of TFBSs across all bacterial species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sinaeda Anderssen
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Aymeric Naômé
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium; HEDERA 22, Boulevard du Rectorat 27b, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Cédric Jadot
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Alain Brans
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Pierre Tocquin
- HEDERA 22, Boulevard du Rectorat 27b, B-4000 Liège, Belgium; InBioS - PhytoSystems, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
| | - Sébastien Rigali
- InBioS - Center for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, B-4000 Liège, Belgium; HEDERA 22, Boulevard du Rectorat 27b, B-4000 Liège, Belgium.
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21
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Tierrafría VH, Rioualen C, Salgado H, Lara P, Gama-Castro S, Lally P, Gómez-Romero L, Peña-Loredo P, López-Almazo AG, Alarcón-Carranza G, Betancourt-Figueroa F, Alquicira-Hernández S, Polanco-Morelos JE, García-Sotelo J, Gaytan-Nuñez E, Méndez-Cruz CF, Muñiz LJ, Bonavides-Martínez C, Moreno-Hagelsieb G, Galagan JE, Wade JT, Collado-Vides J. RegulonDB 11.0: Comprehensive high-throughput datasets on transcriptional regulation in Escherichia coli K-12. Microb Genom 2022; 8. [PMID: 35584008 PMCID: PMC9465075 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.000833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Genomics has set the basis for a variety of methodologies that produce high-throughput datasets identifying the different players that define gene regulation, particularly regulation of transcription initiation and operon organization. These datasets are available in public repositories, such as the Gene Expression Omnibus, or ArrayExpress. However, accessing and navigating such a wealth of data is not straightforward. No resource currently exists that offers all available high and low-throughput data on transcriptional regulation in Escherichia coli K-12 to easily use both as whole datasets, or as individual interactions and regulatory elements. RegulonDB (https://regulondb.ccg.unam.mx) began gathering high-throughput dataset collections in 2009, starting with transcription start sites, then adding ChIP-seq and gSELEX in 2012, with up to 99 different experimental high-throughput datasets available in 2019. In this paper we present a radical upgrade to more than 2000 high-throughput datasets, processed to facilitate their comparison, introducing up-to-date collections of transcription termination sites, transcription units, as well as transcription factor binding interactions derived from ChIP-seq, ChIP-exo, gSELEX and DAP-seq experiments, besides expression profiles derived from RNA-seq experiments. For ChIP-seq experiments we offer both the data as presented by the authors, as well as data uniformly processed in-house, enhancing their comparability, as well as the traceability of the methods and reproducibility of the results. Furthermore, we have expanded the tools available for browsing and visualization across and within datasets. We include comparisons against previously existing knowledge in RegulonDB from classic experiments, a nucleotide-resolution genome viewer, and an interface that enables users to browse datasets by querying their metadata. A particular effort was made to automatically extract detailed experimental growth conditions by implementing an assisted curation strategy applying Natural language processing and machine learning. We provide summaries with the total number of interactions found in each experiment, as well as tools to identify common results among different experiments. This is a long-awaited resource to make use of such wealth of knowledge and advance our understanding of the biology of the model bacterium E. coli K-12.
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Affiliation(s)
- Víctor H Tierrafría
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Claire Rioualen
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Heladia Salgado
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Paloma Lara
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Socorro Gama-Castro
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Patrick Lally
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Laura Gómez-Romero
- Instituto Nacional de Medicina Genómica, INMEGEN, Periférico Sur 4809, Arenal Tepepan, Tlalpan 14610, CDMX, Mexico
| | - Pablo Peña-Loredo
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Andrés G López-Almazo
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Gabriel Alarcón-Carranza
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Felipe Betancourt-Figueroa
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Shirley Alquicira-Hernández
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - J Enrique Polanco-Morelos
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Jair García-Sotelo
- Laboratorio Internacional de Investigación sobre el Genoma Humano, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Querétaro 76230, Querétaro, Mexico
| | - Estefani Gaytan-Nuñez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Carlos-Francisco Méndez-Cruz
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Luis J Muñiz
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - César Bonavides-Martínez
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico
| | - Gabriel Moreno-Hagelsieb
- Department of Biology, Wilfrid Laurier University, 75 University Ave W, Waterloo, ON N2L 3C5, Canada
| | - James E Galagan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Joseph T Wade
- Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA.,Department of Biomedical Sciences, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, NY, USA
| | - Julio Collado-Vides
- Centro de Ciencias Genómicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cuernavaca 62210, Morelos, Mexico.,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 44 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA.,Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Dr. Aiguader 88, Barcelona 08003, Universitat Pompeu Fabra(UPF), Barcelona, Spain
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22
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Zibetti C. Deciphering the Retinal Epigenome during Development, Disease and Reprogramming: Advancements, Challenges and Perspectives. Cells 2022; 11:cells11050806. [PMID: 35269428 PMCID: PMC8908986 DOI: 10.3390/cells11050806] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2022] [Revised: 02/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/18/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Retinal neurogenesis is driven by concerted actions of transcription factors, some of which are expressed in a continuum and across several cell subtypes throughout development. While seemingly redundant, many factors diversify their regulatory outcome on gene expression, by coordinating variations in chromatin landscapes to drive divergent retinal specification programs. Recent studies have furthered the understanding of the epigenetic contribution to the progression of age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly. The knowledge of the epigenomic mechanisms that control the acquisition and stabilization of retinal cell fates and are evoked upon damage, holds the potential for the treatment of retinal degeneration. Herein, this review presents the state-of-the-art approaches to investigate the retinal epigenome during development, disease, and reprogramming. A pipeline is then reviewed to functionally interrogate the epigenetic and transcriptional networks underlying cell fate specification, relying on a truly unbiased screening of open chromatin states. The related work proposes an inferential model to identify gene regulatory networks, features the first footprinting analysis and the first tentative, systematic query of candidate pioneer factors in the retina ever conducted in any model organism, leading to the identification of previously uncharacterized master regulators of retinal cell identity, such as the nuclear factor I, NFI. This pipeline is virtually applicable to the study of genetic programs and candidate pioneer factors in any developmental context. Finally, challenges and limitations intrinsic to the current next-generation sequencing techniques are discussed, as well as recent advances in super-resolution imaging, enabling spatio-temporal resolution of the genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Zibetti
- Department of Ophthalmology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Kirkeveien 166, Building 36, 0455 Oslo, Norway
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