Daniel Latreille

Intrinsic ubiquitination activity of PCAF controls the stability of the oncoprotein Hdm2

The p300–CBP-associated factor (PCAF) is a histone acetyltransferase (HAT) involved in the reversible acetylation of various transcriptional regulators, including the tumour suppressor p53. It is implicated in many cellular processes, such as transcription, differentiation, proliferation and apoptosis. We observed that knockdown of PCAF expression in HeLa or U2OS cell lines induces stabilization of the oncoprotein Hdm2, a RING finger E3 ligase primarily known for its role in controlling p53 stability. To investigate the molecular basis of this effect, we examined whether PCAF is involved in Hdm2 ubiquitination. Here, we show that PCAF, in addition to its acetyltransferase activity, possesses an intrinsic ubiquitination activity that is critical for controlling Hdm2 expression levels, and thus p53 functions. Our data highlight a regulatory crosstalk between PCAF and Hdm2 activities, which is likely to have a central role in the subtle control of p53 activity after DNA damage.

Suppression of HIV-1 replication by microRNA effectors

The rate of HIV-1 gene expression is a key step that determines the kinetics of virus spread and AIDS progression. Viral entry and gene expression were described to be the key determinants for cell permissiveness to HIV. Recent reports highlighted the involvement of miRNA in regulating HIV-1 replication post-transcriptionally. In this study we explored the role of cellular factors required for miRNA-mediated mRNA translational inhibition in regulating HIV-1 gene expression. Here we show that HIV-1 mRNAs associate and co-localize with components of the RNA Induced Silencing Complex (RISC), and we characterize some of the proteins required for miRNA-mediated silencing (miRNA effectors). RCK/p54, GW182, LSm-1 and XRN1 negatively regulate HIV-1 gene expression by preventing viral mRNA association with polysomes. Interestingly, knockdown of RCK/p54 or DGCR8 resulted in virus reactivation in PBMCs isolated from HIV infected patients treated with suppressive HAART.

MCM9 Is Required for Mammalian DNA Mismatch Repair.

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is an evolutionarily conserved process that corrects DNA polymerase errors during replication to maintain genomic integrity. In E. coli, the DNA helicase UvrD is implicated in MMR, yet an analogous helicase activity has not been identified in eukaryotes. Here, we show that mammalian MCM9, a protein involved in replication and homologous recombination, forms a complex with MMR initiation proteins (MSH2, MSH3, MLH1, PMS1, and the clamp loader RFC) and is essential for MMR. Mcm9-/- cells display microsatellite instability and MMR deficiency. The MCM9 complex has a helicase activity that is required for efficient MMR since wild-type but not helicase-dead MCM9 restores MMR activity in Mcm9-/- cells. Moreover, MCM9 loading onto chromatin is MSH2-dependent, and in turn MCM9 stimulates the recruitment of MLH1 to chromatin. Our results reveal a role for MCM9 and its helicase activity in mammalian MMR.

Identification of histone 3 variant 2 interacting factors

The epigenome is defined as a type of information that can be transmitted independently of the DNA sequence, at the chromatin level, through post-translational modifications present on histone tails. Recent advances in the identification of histone 3 variants suggest a new model of information transmission through deposition of specific histone variants. To date, several non-centromeric histone 3 variants have been identified in mammals. Despite protein sequence similarity, specific deposition complexes have been characterized for both histone 3.1 (H3.1) and histone 3.3 (H3.3), whereas no deposition complex for histone 3.2 (H3.2) has been identified to date. Here, we identified human H3.2 partners by immunopurification of nuclear H3.2 complexes followed by mass spectrometry analysis. Further biochemical analyses highlighted two major complexes associated with H3.2, one containing chromatin associated factor-1 subunits and the other consisting of a subcomplex of mini chromosome maintenance helicases, together with Asf1. The purified complexes could associate with a DNA template in vitro.

Spt6 levels are modulated by PAAF1 and proteasome to regulate the HIV-1 LTR

BackgroundTat-mediated activation of the HIV-1 promoter depends upon a proteasome-associated factor, PAAF1, which dissociates 26S proteasome to produce 19S RP that is essential for transcriptional elongation. The effect of PAAF1 on proteasome activity could also potentially shield certain factors from proteolysis, which may be implicated in the transcriptional co-activator activity of PAAF1 towards the LTR.ResultsHere, we show that Spt6 is targeted by proteasome in the absence of PAAF1. PAAF1 interacts with the N-terminus of Spt6, suggesting that PAAF1 protects Spt6 from proteolysis. Depletion of either PAAF1 or Spt6 reduced histone occupancy at the HIV-1 promoter, and induced the synthesis of aberrant transcripts. Ectopic Spt6 expression or treatment with proteasome inhibitor partially rescued the transcription defect associated with loss of PAAF1. Transcriptional profiling followed by ChIP identified a subset of cellular genes that are regulated in a similar fashion to HIV-1 by Spt6 and/or PAAF1, including many that are involved in cancer, such as BRCA1 and BARD1.ConclusionThese results show that intracellular levels of Spt6 are fine-tuned by PAAF1 and proteasome, which is required for HIV-1 transcription and extends to cellular genes implicated in cancer.

Proteomic data on the nuclear interactome of human MCM9

We present data relating to the interactome of MCM9 from the nuclei of human cells. MCM9 belongs to the AAA+ superfamily, and contains an MCM domain and motifs that may confer DNA helicase activity. MCM9 has been shown to bind MCM8, and has been implicated in DNA replication and homologous recombination. However, the mechanistic basis of MCM9’s role in DNA repair is poorly understood, and proteins with which it interacts were hitherto unknown. We performed tandem affinity purification of MCM9 and its interacting proteins from nuclear extracts of human cells, followed by proteomic analysis, thereby generating a set of mass spectrometry data corresponding to the MCM9 interactome [1]. The proteomic data set comprises 29 mass spectrometry RAW files, deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium, and freely available from the PRIDE partner repository with the data set identifier PXD000212. A set of 22 interacting proteins identified from the proteomic data was used to create an MCM9-centered interactive network diagram, using the Cytoscape program. These data allow the scientific community to access, mine and explore the human nuclear MCM9 interactome.

Proteasome-associated PAAF1 links nucleosome assembly to transcriptional elongation

Increasing evidence suggests that the ubiqutin/proteasome system is directly involved in the regulation of transcription. The human proteasome-associated protein, PAAF1 regulates proteasome assemble and is required for recruitment of 19S-like complex to the HIV-1 promoter by Tat that stimulates transcriptional elongation (Lassot et al., 2007). Here, we show that PAAF1 is required to couple transcriptional elongation to nucleosome reassembly. Ablation of PAAF1 using siRNA in HeLa cells containing a stably integrated HIV-1 promoter increases HIV-1 transcription. However, the transcripts are largely defective and not result in protein synthesis. ChIP analysis revealed a paucity of core histones as well as an aberrant accumulation of RNA polymerase II particularly at the promoter-proximal region of the LTR in PAAF1 knock-down cells. We also found that the protein level of the histone chaperone, hSpt6, is decreased post-transcriptionally in PAAF1 knockdown cells. Knockdown of Spt6, like that of PAAF1, showed histone depletion and increased HIV-1 transcription. Furthermore, the phenotype of PAAF1 knock-down could be rescued by over-expression of hSpt6 or inhibition of proteasome activity. PAAF1, as well as hSpt6 and RNA polymerase II, localizes to sites of HIV-1 transcription. Together, these findings suggest that PAAF1 is required for transcriptional elongation through chromatin via regulation of hSpt6