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Berr A, Chabouté ME. The art of painting chromosome loops. Quant Plant Biol 2023; 4:e11. [PMID: 37901685 PMCID: PMC10600566 DOI: 10.1017/qpb.2023.11] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
How to get a metre of DNA into a tiny space while preserving its functional characteristics? This question seems easy to pose, but the answer is far from being trivial. Facing this riddle, salvation came from technical improvements in microscopy and in situ hybridisation techniques applied to cytogenetics. Here, we would like to look into the past at one of these pure cytogenetics articles that makes a breakthrough in addressing this question in plant science. Our choice fell on the work published two decades ago by Fransz et al. (2002). Besides the elegant manner in which DNA probes were organised to bring into light the out-looping arrangement of interphase chromosomes in Arabidopsis thaliana nuclei, this article perfectly illustrates that painting is not reserved to the fine art. As for whether emotional expression prioritised by artists can sometimes hide behind scientific empirical evidence, there is only a small step to make to the general case.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Berr
- Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP), CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
| | - Marie-Edith Chabouté
- Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP), CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France
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Dupont C, Chahar D, Trullo A, Gostan T, Surcis C, Grimaud C, Fisher D, Feil R, Llères D. Evidence for low nanocompaction of heterochromatin in living embryonic stem cells. EMBO J 2023:e110286. [PMID: 37082862 DOI: 10.15252/embj.2021110286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2023] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite advances in the identification of chromatin regulators and genome interactions, the principles of higher-order chromatin structure have remained elusive. Here, we applied FLIM-FRET microscopy to analyse, in living cells, the spatial organisation of nanometre range proximity between nucleosomes, which we called "nanocompaction." Both in naive embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and in ESC-derived epiblast-like cells (EpiLCs), we find that, contrary to expectations, constitutive heterochromatin is much less compacted than bulk chromatin. The opposite was observed in fixed cells. HP1α knockdown increased nanocompaction in living ESCs, but this was overridden by loss of HP1β, indicating the existence of a dynamic HP1-dependent low compaction state in pluripotent cells. Depletion of H4K20me2/3 abrogated nanocompaction, while increased H4K20me3 levels accompanied the nuclear reorganisation during EpiLCs induction. Finally, the knockout of the nuclear cellular-proliferation marker Ki-67 strongly reduced both interphase and mitotic heterochromatin nanocompaction in ESCs. Our data indicate that, contrary to prevailing models, heterochromatin is not highly compacted at the nanoscale but resides in a dynamic low nanocompaction state that depends on H4K20me2/3, the balance between HP1 isoforms, and Ki-67.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire Dupont
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Dhanvantri Chahar
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Antonio Trullo
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Thierry Gostan
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Caroline Surcis
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Charlotte Grimaud
- Institute of Human Genetics (IGH), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Daniel Fisher
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Robert Feil
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - David Llères
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS, University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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Moretti C, Stévant I, Ghavi-Helm Y. 3D genome organisation in Drosophila. Brief Funct Genomics 2021; 19:92-100. [PMID: 31796947 DOI: 10.1093/bfgp/elz029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2019] [Revised: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 09/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Ever since Thomas Hunt Morgan's discovery of the chromosomal basis of inheritance by using Drosophila melanogaster as a model organism, the fruit fly has remained an essential model system in studies of genome biology, including chromatin organisation. Very much as in vertebrates, in Drosophila, the genome is organised in territories, compartments and topologically associating domains (TADs). However, these domains might be formed through a slightly different mechanism than in vertebrates due to the presence of a large and potentially redundant set of insulator proteins and the minor role of dCTCF in TAD boundary formation. Here, we review the different levels of chromatin organisation in Drosophila and discuss mechanisms and factors that might be involved in TAD formation. The dynamics of TADs and enhancer-promoter interactions in the context of transcription are covered in the light of currently conflicting results. Finally, we illustrate the value of polymer modelling approaches to infer the principles governing the three-dimensional organisation of the Drosophila genome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Moretti
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Univ Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 46 allée d'Italie F-69364 Lyon, France
| | - Isabelle Stévant
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Univ Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 46 allée d'Italie F-69364 Lyon, France
| | - Yad Ghavi-Helm
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle de Lyon, Univ Lyon, CNRS UMR 5242, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 46 allée d'Italie F-69364 Lyon, France
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Abstract
Intact-organism imaging of Drosophila larvae reveals and quantifies chromatin-aqueous phase separation. The chromatin can be organized near the lamina layer of the nuclear envelope, conventionally fill the nucleus, be organized centrally, or as a wetting droplet. These transitions are controlled by changes in nuclear volume and the interaction of chromatin with the lamina (part of the nuclear envelope) at the nuclear periphery. Using a simple polymeric model that includes the key features of chromatin self-attraction and its binding to the lamina, we demonstrate theoretically that it is the competition of these two effects that determines the mode of chromatin distribution. The qualitative trends as well as the composition profiles obtained in our simulations compare well with the observed intact-organism imaging and quantification. Since the simulations contain only a small number of physical variables we can identify the generic mechanisms underlying the changes in the observed phase separations.
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Kleppe A, Albregtsen F, Trovik J, Kristensen GB, Danielsen HE. Prognostic Value of the Diversity of Nuclear Chromatin Compartments in Gynaecological Carcinomas. Cancers (Basel) 2020; 12:E3838. [PMID: 33352679 DOI: 10.3390/cancers12123838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2020] [Revised: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Statistical texture analysis of cancer cell nuclei stained for DNA has recently been used to develop a pan-cancer prognostic marker of chromatin heterogeneity. In this study, we instead analysed chromatin organisation by automatically quantifying the diversity of chromatin compartments in cancer cell nuclei. The aim was to investigate the prognostic value of such an assessment in relation to chromatin heterogeneity and as a potential supplement to pathological risk classifications in gynaecological carcinomas. The diversity was quantified by calculating the entropy of both chromatin compartment sizes and optical densities within compartments. We analysed a median of 281 nuclei (interquartile range (IQR), 273 to 289) from 246 ovarian carcinoma patients and a median of 997 nuclei (IQR, 502 to 1452) from 791 endometrial carcinoma patients. The prognostic value of the entropies and chromatin heterogeneity was moderately strongly correlated (r ranged from 0.68 to 0.73), but the novel marker was observed to provide additional prognostic information. In multivariable analysis with clinical and pathological markers, the hazard ratio associated with the novel marker was 2.1 (95% CI, 1.3 to 3.5) in ovarian carcinoma and 2.4 (95% CI, 1.5 to 3.9) in endometrial carcinoma. Integration with pathological risk classifications gave three risk groups with distinctly different prognoses. This suggests that the novel marker of diversity of chromatin compartments might possibly contribute to the selection of high-risk stage I ovarian carcinoma patients for adjuvant chemotherapy and low-risk endometrial carcinoma patients for less extensive surgery.
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Abstract
Chromatin in the interphase nucleus is organised as a hierarchical series of structural domains, including self-interacting domains called topologically associating domains (TADs). This arrangement is thought to bring enhancers into closer physical proximity with their target genes, which often are located hundreds of kilobases away in linear genomic distance. TADs are demarcated by boundary regions bound by architectural proteins, such as CTCF and cohesin, although much remains to be discovered about the structure and function of these domains. Recent studies of TAD boundaries disrupted in engineered mouse models show that boundary mutations can recapitulate human developmental disorders as a result of aberrant promoter-enhancer interactions in the affected TADs. Similar boundary disruptions in certain cancers can result in oncogene overexpression, and CTCF binding sites at boundaries appear to be hyper-mutated across cancers. Further insights into chromatin organisation, in parallel with accumulating whole genome sequence data for disease cohorts, are likely to yield additional valuable insights into the roles of noncoding sequence variation in human disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vera B Kaiser
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU, UK
| | - Colin A Semple
- MRC Human Genetics Unit, MRC Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Western General Hospital, Crewe Road, Edinburgh, EH4 2XU, UK
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Jonsson M, Ragnum HB, Julin CH, Yeramian A, Clancy T, Frikstad KAM, Seierstad T, Stokke T, Matias-Guiu X, Ree AH, Flatmark K, Lyng H. Hypoxia-independent gene expression signature associated with radiosensitisation of prostate cancer cell lines by histone deacetylase inhibition. Br J Cancer 2016; 115:929-939. [PMID: 27599042 PMCID: PMC5061908 DOI: 10.1038/bjc.2016.278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Revised: 07/22/2016] [Accepted: 08/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis) like vorinostat are promising radiosensitisers in prostate cancer, but their effect under hypoxia is not known. We investigated gene expression associated with radiosensitisation of normoxic and hypoxic prostate cancer cells by vorinostat. METHODS Cells were exposed to vorinostat under normoxia or hypoxia and subjected to gene expression profiling before irradiation and clonogenic survival analysis. RESULTS Pretreatment with vorinostat led to radiosensitisation of the intrinsically radioresistant DU 145 cells, but not the radiosensitive PC-3 and 22Rv1 cells, and was independent of hypoxia status. Knockdown experiments showed that the sensitisation was not caused by repression of hypoxia-inducible factor HIF1 or tumour protein TP53. Global deregulation of DNA repair and chromatin organisation genes was associated with radiosensitisation under both normoxia and hypoxia. A radiosensitisation signature with expression changes of 56 genes was generated and valid for both conditions. For eight signature genes, baseline expression also correlated with sensitisation, showing potential as pretreatment biomarker. The hypoxia independence of the signature was confirmed in a clinical data set. CONCLUSIONS Pretreatment with HDACi may overcome radioresistance of hypoxic prostate tumours by similar mechanisms as under normoxia. We propose a gene signature to predict radiosensitising effects independent of hypoxia status.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marte Jonsson
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Harald Bull Ragnum
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Cathinka Halle Julin
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Andree Yeramian
- Department of Pathology and Molecular Genetics HUAV, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
| | - Trevor Clancy
- Department of Tumor Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kari-Anne Myrum Frikstad
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Therese Seierstad
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Trond Stokke
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Xavier Matias-Guiu
- Department of Pathology and Molecular Genetics HUAV, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain
| | - Anne Hansen Ree
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Tumor Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Oncology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway
| | - Kjersti Flatmark
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Tumor Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Heidi Lyng
- Department of Radiation Biology, Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Pb 4950, Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway
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