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Li XC, Srinivasan V, Laiker I, Misunou N, Frankel N, Pallares LF, Crocker J. TF-High-Evolutionary: In Vivo Mutagenesis of Gene Regulatory Networks for the Study of the Genetics and Evolution of the Drosophila Regulatory Genome. Mol Biol Evol 2024; 41:msae167. [PMID: 39117360 PMCID: PMC11342961 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msae167] [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: 04/25/2024] [Revised: 07/29/2024] [Accepted: 08/06/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary potential of mutations in gene regulatory networks is essential to furthering the study of evolution and development. However, in multicellular systems, genetic manipulation of regulatory networks in a targeted and high-throughput way remains challenging. In this study, we designed TF-High-Evolutionary (HighEvo), a transcription factor (TF) fused with a base editor (activation-induced deaminase), to continuously induce germline mutations at TF-binding sites across regulatory networks in Drosophila. Populations of flies expressing TF-HighEvo in their germlines accumulated mutations at rates an order of magnitude higher than natural populations. Importantly, these mutations accumulated around the targeted TF-binding sites across the genome, leading to distinct morphological phenotypes consistent with the developmental roles of the tagged TFs. As such, this TF-HighEvo method allows the interrogation of the mutational space of gene regulatory networks at scale and can serve as a powerful reagent for experimental evolution and genetic screens focused on the regulatory genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xueying C Li
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
| | | | - Ian Laiker
- Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
| | | | - Nicolás Frankel
- Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) y Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Buenos Aires 1428, Argentina
| | - Luisa F Pallares
- Friedrich Miescher Laboratory, Max Planck Society, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Justin Crocker
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany
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Bell CC, Balic JJ, Talarmain L, Gillespie A, Scolamiero L, Lam EYN, Ang CS, Faulkner GJ, Gilan O, Dawson MA. Comparative cofactor screens show the influence of transactivation domains and core promoters on the mechanisms of transcription. Nat Genet 2024; 56:1181-1192. [PMID: 38769457 DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01749-z] [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: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 04/09/2024] [Indexed: 05/22/2024]
Abstract
Eukaryotic transcription factors (TFs) activate gene expression by recruiting cofactors to promoters. However, the relationships between TFs, promoters and their associated cofactors remain poorly understood. Here we combine GAL4-transactivation assays with comparative CRISPR-Cas9 screens to identify the cofactors used by nine different TFs and core promoters in human cells. Using this dataset, we associate TFs with cofactors, classify cofactors as ubiquitous or specific and discover transcriptional co-dependencies. Through a reductionistic, comparative approach, we demonstrate that TFs do not display discrete mechanisms of activation. Instead, each TF depends on a unique combination of cofactors, which influences distinct steps in transcription. By contrast, the influence of core promoters appears relatively discrete. Different promoter classes are constrained by either initiation or pause-release, which influences their dynamic range and compatibility with cofactors. Overall, our comparative cofactor screens characterize the interplay between TFs, cofactors and core promoters, identifying general principles by which they influence transcription.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles C Bell
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, TRI Building, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia.
| | - Jesse J Balic
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Laure Talarmain
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andrea Gillespie
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Laura Scolamiero
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Enid Y N Lam
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ching-Seng Ang
- Bio21 Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Geoffrey J Faulkner
- Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, TRI Building, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Omer Gilan
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Australian Centre for Blood Diseases, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Mark A Dawson
- Cancer Research Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Department of Haematology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Centre for Cancer Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
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Crocker J, Payne JL, Walczak AM, Wittkopp PJ. Interdisciplinary approaches to predicting evolutionary biology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220042. [PMID: 37004718 PMCID: PMC10067262 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Crocker
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg 69117, Germany
| | - Joshua L Payne
- Computational Biology Group, Institute of Integrative Biology, Building CHN H 75.1, Universitätstrasse 16, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Quartier Sorge - Batiment Amphipole, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Aleksandra M Walczak
- Laboratoire de Physique de l'École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, PSL University, Sorbonne Université, and Université Paris Cité, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Patricia J Wittkopp
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382, USA
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