Lesson 16 Flashcards
describer the structure of the PHO5 promotor:
there are precisely positioned nucleosomes so that the TATA box is always assembled into nucleosomes and TBP cannot bind → promotor is off
describe one of the two binding sites for Pho4:
one site is free of nucleosomes so it is accessible for transcription factors and the other is occluded
what is chromatin important for?
keeping genes repressed so that they are activated only when it is necessary → participates in gene expression but not in epigenetic terms
describe how genes are effected by chromatin in regards to expression:
some genes are only repressed by chromatin, whereas other genes are affected more meaning that chromatin participates in the regulation
what are two reasons why yeast is a good genetic model:
it is very simple and it has only a few copies of histone genes
when they wanted to know if the depletion of nucleosomes affects general transcription or specific expression in yeast, what did they set as the control and experimental variables?
control: yeast cells grown in the presence of galactose (H4 is present)
experimental: yeast cells in the presence of glucose (down regulation of H4 gene)
when both H4 alleles were deleted in yeast and supplied by stable extrachromosomal plasmids, what did galactose stimulate?
growth in the presence of galactose stimulated H4 expression
when both H4 alleles were deleted in yeast and supplied by stable extrachromosomal plasmids, what did glucose stimulate?
growth in the presence of glucose caused H4 not to be expressed
if you have a candidate gene, how can you check gene expression multiple generations later?
use a single cell approach
if you don’t have a candidate gene, how can you check gene expression multiple generations later?
use a global approach
what is the best global approach to analyze gene expression?
RNA-Seq
what are some nucleotides integral for?
an integral part of the regulatory mechanism
what did histone H4 depletion cause in yeast cells?
- reduced H4 levels
- reduced number of nucleosomes (ab 50%)
- increased accessibility of chromatin to nucleases
what were the three effects on gene expression in yeast cells?
- expression of endogenous genes were de-repressed
- the affected genes were all inducible genes
- constitutive genes were not affected
how is chromatin related to transcription?
in most cases the chromatin is closed when the gene is not transcribed and it is open when the gene is transcribed
what are ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes?
make DNA more accessible → alter the position and structure of nucleosomes through ATP hydrolysis
what do the post-transcriptional modification of histone tails cause?
induced to recruit proteins that open or close chromatin
what does the induction of histone variants do?
tags that tell the cell the a specific region of the chromatin must be highly transcribed or repressed
why are the induction of histone variants epigenetics?
there are readers that read specific histone variants
name four ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes:
- nucleosome sliding
- nucleosome ejection
- H2A-H2B dimer ejection
- H2A-H2B dimer replacement
what is nucleosome sliding?
a region which is hidden by a nucleosome becomes now accessible to transcription factors; the nucleosome for example can go into the linker DNA
what is nucleosome ejection?
all nucleosomes are removed
and so the DNA becomes accessible
what is H2A-H2B dimer ejection?
the tetramer made with H3 and H4 is sufficient to have DNA wrapping around, but without H2A and H2B DNA has less contacts with what remains of the nucleosome and so transcriptional factors can have more access → H2A and H2B removal make the chromatin more transparent for the binding of transcriptional factors
what is H2A-H2B dimer replacement?
after the removal of the dimer it is possible to insert histone variants
How do ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes function?
work in both directions → they can either open or close chromatin
what are typical ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes that are involved in a huge amount of human tumors, and also have the highest rate of mutations?
SWI-SNF (BAF) complexes
describe rhabdoid tumors:
100% of these tumors have a deletion in the SMARC5B (SNF2) gene: the lack of the protein causes the disassembly of all the related complexes and at least one ATP dependent chromatin remodeling complex is always involved
how can ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes reach the target DNA?
- They can be recruited by transcriptional factors, which in turn can have access to chromatin thanks to PTMs
- It can happen randomly: they slide nucleosomes and if a transcriptional factor is there, it will have the opportunity to bind
- They can be readers of PTMs
what is the best way to see which genes are affected by specific ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes?
The best experiment to perform is knock down, using siRNA or shRNA (short hairpin RNA): cells are transfected or infected with siRNA or shRNA expressing vector; we check if the gene is knocked down by RT-PCR or WB, then we perform RNA-Seq experiments
what part of the histone is most easily accessible to histone modifications?
the tails → they are exposed on the surface of nucleosomes
what PMTs are most common for histone tails?
- Phosphorilation→ on Ser, Thr and Tyr
- Acetylation→ on Lys
- Methylation→ on Lys and Arg
- Ubiquitination→ on Lys