Compensatory change of interacting amino acids in the coevolution of transcriptional coactivator MBF1 and TATA-box-binding protein

Transcription Cofactor CsMBF1c Enhances Heat Tolerance of Cucumber and Interacts with Heat-Related Proteins CsNFYA1 and CsDREB2

Multiprotein bridging factor 1 (MBF1) is a very important transcription factor (TF) in plants, whose members influence numerous defense responses. Our study found that MBF1c in Cucurbitaceae was highly conserved. CsMBF1c expression was induced by temperature, salt stress, and abscisic acid (ABA) in cucumber. Overexpressed CsMBF1c enhanced the heat resistance of a cucumber, and the Csmbf1c mutant showed decreased resistance to high temperatures (HTs). CsMBF1c played an important role in stabilizing the photosynthetic system of cucumber under HT, and its expression was significantly associated with heat-related TFs and genes related to protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Protein interaction showed that CsMBF1c interacted with dehydration-responsive element binding protein 2 (CsDREB2) and nuclear factor Y A1 (CsNFYA1). Overexpression of CsNFYA1 in Arabidopsis improved the heat resistance. Transcriptional activation of CsNFYA1 was elevated by CsMBF1c. Therefore, CsMBF1c plays an important regulatory role in cucumber's resistance to high temperatures.

Proteomic analysis revealed the roles of YRR1 deletion in enhancing the vanillin resistance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

BACKGROUND

Vanillin is one of the important phenolic inhibitors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for bioconversion of lignocellulosic materials and has been reported to inhibit the translation process in cells. In our previous studies, it was confirmed that the deletion of the transcription factor gene YRR1 enhanced vanillin resistance by promoting some translation-related processes at the transcription level. In this work, we investigated the effects of proteomic changes upon induction of vanillin stress and deletion of YRR1 to provide unique perspectives from a transcriptome analysis for comprehending the mechanisms of YRR1 deletion in the protective response of yeast to vanillin.

RESULTS

In wild-type cells, vanillin reduced two dozens of ribosomal proteins contents while upregulated proteins involved in glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation, and the pentose phosphate pathway in cells. The ratios of NADPH/NADP⁺ and NADH/NAD⁺ were increased when cells responded to vanillin stress. The differentially expressed proteins perturbed by YRR1 deletion were much more abundant than and showed no overlaps with transcriptome changes, indicating that Yrr1 affects the synthesis of certain proteins. Forty-eight of 112 upregulated proteins were involved in the stress response, translational and transcriptional regulation. YRR1 deletion increased the expression of HAA1-encoding transcriptional activator, TMA17-encoding proteasome assembly chaperone and MBF1-encoding coactivator at the protein level, as confirmed by ELISA. Cultivation data showed that the overexpression of HAA1 and TMA17 enhanced resistance to vanillin in S. cerevisiae.

CONCLUSIONS

Cells conserve energy by decreasing the content of ribosomal proteins, producing more energy and NAD(P)H for survival in response to vanillin stress. Yrr1 improved vanillin resistance by increasing the protein quantities of Haa1, Tma17 and Mbf1. These results showed the response of S. cerevisiae to vanillin and how YRR1 deletion increases vanillin resistance at the protein level. These findings may advance our knowledge of how YRR1 deletion protects yeast from vanillin stress and offer novel targets for genetic engineering of designing inhibitor-resistant ethanologenic yeast strains.

EDF1 coordinates cellular responses to ribosome collisions

Translation of aberrant mRNAs induces ribosomal collisions, thereby triggering pathways for mRNA and nascent peptide degradation and ribosomal rescue. Here we use sucrose gradient fractionation combined with quantitative proteomics to systematically identify proteins associated with collided ribosomes. This approach identified Endothelial differentiation-related factor 1 (EDF1) as a novel protein recruited to collided ribosomes during translational distress. Cryo-electron microscopic analyses of EDF1 and its yeast homolog Mbf1 revealed a conserved 40S ribosomal subunit binding site at the mRNA entry channel near the collision interface. EDF1 recruits the translational repressors GIGYF2 and EIF4E2 to collided ribosomes to initiate a negative-feedback loop that prevents new ribosomes from translating defective mRNAs. Further, EDF1 regulates an immediate-early transcriptional response to ribosomal collisions. Our results uncover mechanisms through which EDF1 coordinates multiple responses of the ribosome-mediated quality control pathway and provide novel insights into the intersection of ribosome-mediated quality control with global transcriptional regulation.

The plant MBF1 protein family: a bridge between stress and transcription

The Multiprotein Bridging Factor 1 (MBF1) proteins are transcription co-factors whose molecular function is to form a bridge between transcription factors and the basal machinery of transcription. MBF1s are present in most archaea and all eukaryotes, and numerous reports show that they are involved in developmental processes and in stress responses. In this review we summarize almost three decades of research on the plant MBF1 family, which has mainly focused on their role in abiotic stress responses, in particular the heat stress response. However, despite the amount of information available, there are still many questions that remain about how plant MBF1 genes, transcripts, and proteins respond to stress, and how they in turn modulate stress response transcriptional pathways.

Modification and functional adaptation of the MBF1 gene family in the lichenized fungus Endocarpon pusillum under environmental stress

The multiprotein-bridging factor 1 (MBF1) gene family is well known in archaea, non-lichenized fungi, plants, and animals, and contains stress tolerance-related genes. Here, we identified four unique mbf1 genes in the lichenized fungi Endocarpon spp. A phylogenetic analysis based on protein sequences showed the translated MBF1 proteins of the newly isolated mbf1 genes formed a monophyletic clade different from other lichen-forming fungi and Ascomycota groups in general, which may reflect the evolution of the biological functions of MBF1s. In contrast to the lack of function reported in yeast, we determined that lysine¹¹⁴ in the deduced Endocarpon pusillum MBF1 protein (EpMBF1) had a specific function that was triggered by environmental stress. Further, the Endocarpon-specific C-terminus of EpMBF1 was found to participate in stress tolerance. Epmbf1 was induced by a number of abiotic stresses in E. pusillum and transgenic yeast, and its stress-resistant ability was stronger than that of the yeast mbf1. These findings highlight the evolution and function of EpMBF1 and provide new insights into the co-evolution hypothesis of MBF1 and TATA-box-binding proteins.

Honey can repairing damage of liver tissue due to protein energy malnutrition through induction of endogenous stem cells

AIM

This study was to evaluate effect of honey in repairing damage of liver tissue due to energy protein malnutrition and in mobilization of endogenous stem cells.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Male mice model of degenerative liver was obtained through food fasting but still have drinking water for 5 days. It caused energy protein malnutrition and damage of liver tissue. The administration of 50% (v/v) honey was performed for 10 consecutive days, while the positive control group was fasted and not given honey and the negative control not fasted and without honey. Observations of regeneration the liver tissue based on histologically examination, observation of Hsp70 expression, and homing signal based on vascular endothelial growth factor-1 (VEGF-1) expression using immunohistochemistry technique. Observation on expression of CD34 and CD45 as the marker of auto mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells using flow cytometry technique.

RESULTS

There is regeneration of the liver tissue due to protein energy malnutrition, decrease of Hsp70 expression, increase of VEGF-1 expression, and high expression of CD34 and CD45.

CONCLUSION

Honey can improve the liver tissue based on: (1) Mobilization of endogenous stem cells (CD34 and CD45); (2) Hsp70 and VEGF-1 expressions as regeneration marker of improvement, and (3) regeneration histologically of liver tissue.

Antarctic Moss Multiprotein Bridging Factor 1c Overexpression in Arabidopsis Resulted in Enhanced Tolerance to Salt Stress

Polytrichastrum alpinum is one of the moss species that survives extreme conditions in the Antarctic. In order to explore the functional benefits of moss genetic resources, P. alpinum multiprotein-bridging factor 1c gene (PaMBF1c) was isolated and characterized. The deduced amino acid sequence of PaMBF1c comprises of a multiprotein-bridging factor (MBF1) domain and a helix-turn-helix (HTH) domain. PaMBF1c expression was induced by different abiotic stresses in P. alpinum, implying its roles in stress responses. We overexpressed PaMBF1c in Arabidopsis and analyzed the resulting phenotypes in comparison with wild type and/or Arabidopsis MBF1c (AtMBF1c) overexpressors. Overexpression of PaMBF1c in Arabidopsis resulted in enhanced tolerance to salt and osmotic stress, as well as to cold and heat stress. More specifically, enhanced salt tolerance was observed in PaMBF1c overexpressors in comparison to wild type but not clearly observable in AtMBF1c overexpressing lines. Thus, these results implicate the evolution of PaMBF1c under salt-enriched Antarctic soil. RNA-Seq profiling of NaCl-treated plants revealed that 10 salt-stress inducible genes were already up-regulated in PaMBF1c overexpressing plants even before NaCl treatment. Gene ontology enrichment analysis with salt up-regulated genes in each line uncovered that the terms lipid metabolic process, ion transport, and cellular amino acid biosynthetic process were significantly enriched in PaMBF1c overexpressors. Additionally, gene enrichment analysis with salt down-regulated genes in each line revealed that the enriched categories in wild type were not significantly overrepresented in PaMBF1c overexpressing lines. The up-regulation of several genes only in PaMBF1c overexpressing lines suggest that enhanced salt tolerance in PaMBF1c-OE might involve reactive oxygen species detoxification, maintenance of ATP homeostasis, and facilitation of Ca²⁺ signaling. Interestingly, many salt down-regulated ribosome- and translation-related genes were not down-regulated in PaMBF1c overexpressing lines under salt stress. These differentially regulated genes by PaMBF1c overexpression could contribute to the enhanced tolerance in PaMBF1c overexpressing lines under salt stress.

Interaction between TATA-Binding Protein (TBP) and Multiprotein Bridging Factor-1 (MBF1) from the Filamentous Insect Pathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana

TATA-binding protein (TBP) is a ubiquitous component of eukaryotic transcription factors that acts to nucleate assembly and position pre-initiation complexes. Multiprotein bridging factor 1 (MBF1) is thought to interconnect TBP with gene specific transcriptional activators, modulating transcriptional networks in response to specific signal and developmental programs. The insect pathogen, Beauveria bassiana, is a cosmopolitan fungus found in most ecosystems where it acts as an important regulator of insect populations and can form intimate associations with certain plants. In order to gain a better understanding of the function of MBF1 in filamentous fungi, its interaction with TBP was demonstrated. The MBF1 and TBP homologs in B. bassiana were cloned and purified from a heterologous E. coli expression system. Whereas purified BbTBP was shown to be able to bind oligonucleotide sequences containing the TATA-motif (Kd ≈ 1.3 nM) including sequences derived from the promoters of the B. bassiana chitinase and protease genes. In contrast, BbMBF1 was unable to bind to these same target sequences. However, the formation of a ternary complex between BbMBF1, BbTBP, and a TATA-containing target DNA sequence was seen in agarose gel electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA). These data indicate that BbMBF1 forms direct interactions with BbTBP, and that the complex is capable of binding to DNA sequences containing TATA-motifs, confirming that BbTBP can link BbMBF1 to target sequences as part of the RNA transcriptional machinery in fungi.

Overexpression of heat stress-responsive TaMBF1c, a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Multiprotein Bridging Factor, confers heat tolerance in both yeast and rice

Previously, we found an ethylene-responsive transcriptional co-activator, which was significantly induced by heat stress (HS) in both thermo-sensitive and thermo-tolerant wheat. The corresponding ORF was isolated from wheat, and named TaMBF1c (Multiprotein Bridging Factor1c). The deduced amino acid sequence revealed the presence of conserved MBF1 and helix-turn-helix domains at the N- and C-terminus, respectively, which were highly similar to rice ERTCA (Ethylene Response Transcriptional Co-Activator) and Arabidopsis MBF1c. The promoter region of TaMBF1c contained three heat shock elements (HSEs) and other stress-responsive elements. There was no detectable mRNA of TaMBF1c under control conditions, but the transcript was rapidly and significantly induced by heat stress not only at the seedling stage, but also at the flowering stage. It was also slightly induced by drought and H2O2 stresses, as well as by application of the ethylene synthesis precursor ACC, but not, however, by circadian rhythm, salt, ABA or MeJA treatments. Under normal temperatures, TaMBF1c-eGFP protein showed predominant nuclear localization with some levels of cytosol localization in the bombarded onion epidermal cells, but it was mainly detected in the nucleus with almost no eGFP signals in cytosol when the bombarded onion cells were cultured under high temperature conditions. Overexpression of TaMBF1c in yeast imparted tolerance to heat stress compared to cells expressing the vector alone. Most importantly, transgenic rice plants engineered to overexpress TaMBF1c showed higher thermotolerance than control plants at both seedling and reproductive stages. In addition, transcript levels of six Heat Shock Protein and two Trehalose Phosphate Synthase genes were higher in TaMBF1c transgenic lines than in wild-type rice upon heat treatment. Collectively, the present data suggest that TaMBF1c plays a pivotal role in plant thermotolerance and holds promising possibilities for improving heat tolerance in crops.

Archaeal MBF1 binds to 30S and 70S ribosomes via its helix-turn-helix domain

MBF1 (multi-protein bridging factor 1) is a protein containing a conserved HTH (helix-turn-helix) domain in both eukaryotes and archaea. Eukaryotic MBF1 has been reported to function as a transcriptional co-activator that physically bridges transcription regulators with the core transcription initiation machinery of RNA polymerase II. In addition, MBF1 has been found to be associated with polyadenylated mRNA in yeast as well as in mammalian cells. aMBF1 (archaeal MBF1) is very well conserved among most archaeal lineages; however, its function has so far remained elusive. To address this, we have conducted a molecular characterization of this aMBF1. Affinity purification of interacting proteins indicates that aMBF1 binds to ribosomal subunits. On sucrose density gradients, aMBF1 co-fractionates with free 30S ribosomal subunits as well as with 70S ribosomes engaged in translation. Binding of aMBF1 to ribosomes does not inhibit translation. Using NMR spectroscopy, we show that aMBF1 contains a long intrinsically disordered linker connecting the predicted N-terminal zinc-ribbon domain with the C-terminal HTH domain. The HTH domain, which is conserved in all archaeal and eukaryotic MBF1 homologues, is directly involved in the association of aMBF1 with ribosomes. The disordered linker of the ribosome-bound aMBF1 provides the N-terminal domain with high flexibility in the aMBF1-ribosome complex. Overall, our findings suggest a role for aMBF1 in the archaeal translation process.

Coevolution of axon guidance molecule Slit and its receptor Robo

Coevolution is important for the maintenance of the interaction between a ligand and its receptor during evolution. The interaction between axon guidance molecule Slit and its receptor Robo is critical for the axon repulsion in neural tissues, which is evolutionarily conserved from planarians to humans. However, the mechanism of coevolution between Slit and Robo remains unclear. In this study, we found that coordinated amino acid changes took place at interacting sites of Slit and Robo by comparing the amino acids at these sites among different organisms. In addition, the high level correlation between evolutionary rate of Slit and Robo was identified in vertebrates. Furthermore, the sites under positive selection of slit and robo were detected in the same lineage such as mosquito and teleost. Overall, our results provide evidence for the coevolution between Slit and Robo.

Protein co-evolution: how do we combine bioinformatics and experimental approaches?

Molecular co-evolution is manifested by compensatory changes in proteins designed to enable adaptation to their natural environment. In recent years, bioinformatics approaches allowed for the detection of co-evolution at the level of the whole protein or of specific residues. Such efforts enabled prediction of protein-protein interactions, functional assignments of proteins and the identification of interacting residues, thereby providing information on protein structure. Still, despite such advances, relatively little is known regarding the functional implications of sequence divergence resulting from protein co-evolution. While bioinformatics approaches usually analyze thousands of proteins to obtain a broad view of protein co-evolution, experimental evaluation of protein co-evolution serves to study only individual proteins. In this review, we describe recent advances in bioinformatics and experimental efforts aimed at examining protein co-evolution. Accordingly, we discuss possible modes of crosstalk between the bioinformatics and experimental approaches to facilitate the identification of co-evolutionary signals in proteins and to understand their implications for the structure and function of proteins.

Functional conservation of cis-regulatory elements of heat-shock genes over long evolutionary distances

Transcriptional control of gene regulation is an intricate process that requires precise orchestration of a number of molecular components. Studying its evolution can serve as a useful model for understanding how complex molecular machines evolve. One way to investigate evolution of transcriptional regulation is to test the functions of cis-elements from one species in a distant relative. Previous results suggested that few, if any, tissue-specific promoters from Drosophila are faithfully expressed in C. elegans. Here we show that, in contrast, promoters of fly and human heat-shock genes are upregulated in C. elegans upon exposure to heat. Inducibility under conditions of heat shock may represent a relatively simple “on-off” response, whereas complex expression patterns require integration of multiple signals. Our results suggest that simpler aspects of regulatory logic may be retained over longer periods of evolutionary time, while more complex ones may be diverging more rapidly.

Functional analysis of archaeal MBF1 by complementation studies in yeast

Background

Multiprotein-bridging factor 1 (MBF1) is a transcriptional co-activator that bridges a sequence-specific activator (basic-leucine zipper (bZIP) like proteins (e.g. Gcn4 in yeast) or steroid/nuclear-hormone receptor family (e.g. FTZ-F1 in insect)) and the TATA-box binding protein (TBP) in Eukaryotes. MBF1 is absent in Bacteria, but is well- conserved in Eukaryotes and Archaea and harbors a C-terminal Cro-like Helix Turn Helix (HTH) domain, which is the only highly conserved, classical HTH domain that is vertically inherited in all Eukaryotes and Archaea. The main structural difference between archaeal MBF1 (aMBF1) and eukaryotic MBF1 is the presence of a Zn ribbon motif in aMBF1. In addition MBF1 interacting activators are absent in the archaeal domain. To study the function and therefore the evolutionary conservation of MBF1 and its single domains complementation studies in yeast (mbf1Δ) as well as domain swap experiments between aMBF1 and yMbf1 were performed.

Results

In contrast to previous reports for eukaryotic MBF1 (i.e. Arabidopsis thaliana, insect and human) the two archaeal MBF1 orthologs, TMBF1 from the hyperthermophile Thermoproteus tenax and MMBF1 from the mesophile Methanosarcina mazei were not functional for complementation of an Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant lacking Mbf1 (mbf1Δ). Of twelve chimeric proteins representing different combinations of the N-terminal, core domain, and the C-terminal extension from yeast and aMBF1, only the chimeric MBF1 comprising the yeast N-terminal and core domain fused to the archaeal C-terminal part was able to restore full wild-type activity of MBF1.

However, as reported previously for Bombyx mori, the C-terminal part of yeast Mbf1 was shown to be not essential for function. In addition phylogenetic analyses revealed a common distribution of MBF1 in all Archaea with available genome sequence, except of two of the three Thaumarchaeota; Cenarchaeum symbiosum A and Nitrosopumilus maritimus SCM1.

Conclusions

The absence of MBF1-interacting activators in the archaeal domain, the presence of a Zn ribbon motif in the divergent N-terminal domain of aMBF1 and the complementation experiments using archaeal- yeast chimeric proteins presented here suggests that archaeal MBF1 is not able to functionally interact with the transcription machinery and/or Gcn4 of S. cerevisiae. Based on modeling and structural prediction it is tempting to speculate that aMBF1 might act as a single regulator or non-essential transcription factor, which directly interacts with DNA via the positive charged linker or the basal transcription machinery via its Zn ribbon motif and the HTH domain. However, also alternative functions in ribosome biosynthesis and/or functionality have been discussed and therefore further experiments are required to unravel the function of MBF1 in Archaea.

Reviewers

This article was reviewed by William Martin, Patrick Forterre, John van der Oost and Fabian Blombach (nominated by Eugene V Koonin (United States)). For the full reviews, please go to the Reviewer's Reports section.

Defining the plasticity of transcription factor binding sites by Deconstructing DNA consensus sequences: the PhoP-binding sites among gamma/enterobacteria

Transcriptional regulators recognize specific DNA sequences. Because these sequences are embedded in the background of genomic DNA, it is hard to identify the key cis-regulatory elements that determine disparate patterns of gene expression. The detection of the intra- and inter-species differences among these sequences is crucial for understanding the molecular basis of both differential gene expression and evolution. Here, we address this problem by investigating the target promoters controlled by the DNA-binding PhoP protein, which governs virulence and Mg(2+) homeostasis in several bacterial species. PhoP is particularly interesting; it is highly conserved in different gamma/enterobacteria, regulating not only ancestral genes but also governing the expression of dozens of horizontally acquired genes that differ from species to species. Our approach consists of decomposing the DNA binding site sequences for a given regulator into families of motifs (i.e., termed submotifs) using a machine learning method inspired by the "Divide & Conquer" strategy. By partitioning a motif into sub-patterns, computational advantages for classification were produced, resulting in the discovery of new members of a regulon, and alleviating the problem of distinguishing functional sites in chromatin immunoprecipitation and DNA microarray genome-wide analysis. Moreover, we found that certain partitions were useful in revealing biological properties of binding site sequences, including modular gains and losses of PhoP binding sites through evolutionary turnover events, as well as conservation in distant species. The high conservation of PhoP submotifs within gamma/enterobacteria, as well as the regulatory protein that recognizes them, suggests that the major cause of divergence between related species is not due to the binding sites, as was previously suggested for other regulators. Instead, the divergence may be attributed to the fast evolution of orthologous target genes and/or the promoter architectures resulting from the interaction of those binding sites with the RNA polymerase.

Visualization of nuclear localization of transcription factors with cyan and green fluorescent proteins in the red alga Porphyra yezoensis

Transcription factors play a central role in expression of genomic information in all organisms. The objective of our study is to analyze the function of transcription factors in red algae. One way to analyze transcription factors in eukaryotic cells is to study their nuclear localization, as reported for land plants and green algae using fluorescent proteins. There is, however, no report documenting subcellular localization of transcription factors from red algae. In the present study, using the marine red alga Porphyra yezoensis, we confirmed for the first time successful expression of humanized fluorescent proteins (ZsGFP and ZsYFP) from a reef coral Zoanthus sp. and land plant-adapted sGFP(S65T) in gametophytic cells comparable to expression of AmCFP. Following molecular cloning and characterization of transcription factors DP-E2F-like 1 (PyDEL1), transcription elongation factor 1 (PyElf1) and multiprotein bridging factor 1 (PyMBF1), we then demonstrated that ZsGFP and AmCFP can be used to visualize nuclear localization of PyElf1 and PyMBF1. This is the first report to perform visualization of subcellular localization of transcription factors as genome-encoded proteins in red algae.

Role of multiprotein bridging factor 1 in archaea: bridging the domains?

MBF1 (multiprotein bridging factor 1) is a highly conserved protein in archaea and eukaryotes. It was originally identified as a mediator of the eukaryotic transcription regulator BmFTZ-F1 (Bombyx mori regulator of fushi tarazu). MBF1 was demonstrated to enhance transcription by forming a bridge between distinct regulatory DNA-binding proteins and the TATA-box-binding protein. MBF1 consists of two parts: a C-terminal part that contains a highly conserved helix-turn-helix, and an N-terminal part that shows a clear divergence: in eukaryotes, it is a weakly conserved flexible domain, whereas, in archaea, it is a conserved zinc-ribbon domain. Although its function in archaea remains elusive, its function as a transcriptional co-activator has been deduced from thorough studies of several eukaryotic proteins, often indicating a role in stress response. In addition, MBF1 was found to influence translation fidelity in yeast. Genome context analysis of mbf1 in archaea revealed conserved clustering in the crenarchaeal branch together with genes generally involved in gene expression. It points to a role of MBF1 in transcription and/or translation. Experimental data are required to allow comparison of the archaeal MBF1 with its eukaryotic counterpart.