Health and Disease Dr Boyes Flashcards
What causes different genes to be expressed?
Transcription factors.
Is DNA or genetic information lost during differentiation?
No
What does tissue specific gene expression rely on?
A combination of the activity of specific transcription factors and chromatin modifications.
What is Epigenetic regulation?
A change in state of expression of a gene which does not involve a mutation but is inherited, after cell division, in the absence of the signal, or event, that initiated the change.
What determines which gene is activated?
The DNA binding domain on the transcription activators as they determine which promoter is activated.
What determines rate of expression of a given gene?
Transcription factors and promoters, with the transcription initiation complex playing a role in the rate.
Do promoters have multiple binding sites?
Yes, for various transcription factors.
Describe how DNA is packaged?
In a nucleosome, wrapped around a histone octamer with a diad centre, then 10 nm fibre, then 30 nm fibre and the attached with loops to the protein scaffold.
What are DNase 1 hypersensitive sites?
Found at promoters and enhancers of expressed gene, generated by the binding of transcription factors and the displacement of histone octamers. DNase 1 digests hypersensitive sites around 100x faster that other sites.
How are DNase 1 sites mapped?
Cleave with DNase 1 in nuclei, prepare the DNA, cut with a specific restriction enzyme, electrophorese, Southern blot and probe with region next to the restriction site. The calculate the distance the hypersensitive site is from the restriction site.
What has to occur before transcription?
Removal or relocation of the histone octamer at promoters by nucleosome remodelling complexes.
What two mechanisms are there to remove or relocate the histone octamer at promoters?
Sliding histone octamers to new positions or displacement of the histone octamers.
How does the nucleosome remodelling complex translocated the DNA around the nucleosome?
Using ATP taking 10 nm steps, coordinated by the DNA binding and translocation domains. The remodeller binds DNA in the linker and pushes it histone octamer to create a loop which passes through the translocation domain.
Push-me, pull-me idea.
What are the other functions of the nucleosome remodelling complex?
Correct nucleosome spacing, DNA exposure, exchange of H2A/H2B dimers, CHD involved in repression.
How can histone tails be modified?
Many sites, many acetylation via acetyltransferase co activators.
What are changes in DNA methylation nearly always?
Inherited
What are histone modifications?
Can be inherited and therefore Epigenetic. Eg. Polycomb H3K27me3 and Trithorax H3K9me3.
What can Epigenetic changes cause?
The same transcription factor to activate different genes in different cell types.
Where does CpG methylation occur?
On the cytokines of CpG dinucleotides and can occur at CNG in plants.
What is required for the determination of genes being on or off?
Inherited Epigernetic mark and for it to do something for transcription.
How are DNA methylation patterns inherited upon replication?
Newly synthesised daughter strands are hemi-methylated and converted to fully methylated state by Dntm1. The ‘perfect’ Epigenetic mark is maintained as somatic cells divide and the methylation is maintained by Dnmt1, required every time DNA is replicated, de novo methylation by Dnmt3 a and b.
When does de novo methylation occur?
Only at high levels during embryonic development but can occur at low levels during different developmental stages.
What does Dnmt stand for?
DNA methyl transferases.
Describe Dnmt’s?
C-terminal highly conserved catalytic domain. Unconserved N-terminal domain.
What does Dmnt3 a and b associate with?
Regulatory factor Dmnt3L.
What are the two types of DNA demethylation?
Passive and active.
Describe passive DNA demethylation?
One strand fails to be converted to the fully methylated form at replication and then becomes inherited in daughter cells via exclusion of the maintenance methyl transferase.
Describe active DNA demethylation?
Methyl-cytosine is removed from DNA via enzymatic activity. This occurs much quicker and it’s important during embryonic development to re-set Epigenetic marks.
What percentage of CpG dinucleotides are methylated?
70-80%
What percentage of the mammalian genome is CG?
40%
Why is methylation of CpG underestimated?
As 5-me-c is mutagenic and spontaneously deaminates. Methyl-cytosine deaminates to thymine, non-methyl-cytosine deaminates to uracil.
What accounts for 50% off point mutations in genetic disorders?
5’-methyl-cytosine mutations which are not efficiently repaired.
How are CpG dinucleotides distributed in a) invertebrates and b) vertebrates?
a) all of the genes are in unmethylated blocks.
b) methylation seems to have spread and there are small blocks without methylation which are found around gene promoters.
What are small blocks in CpG dinucleotides without methylation called?
CpG Islands.
Describe CpG Islands?
~1 kb long, GC rich, unmethylated in all (particularly germlines) tissues, at the promoter region of all housekeeping genes and 40% of tissue-specific genes, they span the promoter and into the first exon, some replication origins map to CpG Islands.
What are the orphan CpG Islands often?
Sites of transcriptional initiation.
What two methods are used to detect DNA methylation?
Restriction enzymes: use non-methyl specific to cut DNA when DNA sites are not methylated.
Bisulphite sequences: treat DNA with sodium sulphite which accelerates the deamination of un-methylated cytosine to uracil but it doesn’t affect the methylated cytosine.
How does DNA methylation repress transcription directly?
Prevents transcription factors from binding.
How does DNA methylation repress transcription?
Methylated DNA binding proteins bind to methylated CpG and prevent transcription factors from binding to promoters. This is more common.
When can CpG Islands become methylated?
On the inactive X chromosome and in some cancers.
What do methylated CpG Islands do?
Strongly repress transcription.
What are the 3 classes of promoters?
CpG Islands, weak CpG islands, low CpG promoters.
How do the three types of promoters vary?
CpG Islands: one CpG every 10 bp
Weak CpG Islands: one CpG every 20-30 bp
Low CpG promoters: one CpG every 100 bp.
What is the methylated DNA binding protein MeCP1s activity equivalent to?
Kaiso and MBD2/HDAC
What does the histone code hypothesis predict?
That modifications on the histone provide binding sites for chromatin-associated proteins and modifications on the same or different histone tails may be interdependent and generate various combinations on any one nucleosome. And this leads to the generation of active or repressed regions of chromatin.
What does the histone code hypothesis imply?
That the chromatin structure of euchromatin or heterochromatic domains are dependent on the combination of differentials modified nucleosomes.
What are the four key examples of histone modifications that lead to the binding of activators or repressors?
Acetylation of histone tails (activators bind via their bromodomains), tri-methylation of H3K4 (binding of activators via their PHD fingers), tri-methylation of H3K9 (binding of a repressor HP1 via its chromodomain), tri-methylation of H3K27 (binding of a repressor complex, polycomb repressor complex 1, via the chromodomain)
During the formation of active or repressive chromatin what cooperates?
Chromatin marks and activator/repressor proteins to re-I force the activation/repression.
What are the promoters and enhancers of active gene characterised by?
The presence of DNase 1 hypersensitive sites.