Mickaël Durand-Dubief

Identification of Noncoding Transcripts from within CENP-A Chromatin at Fission Yeast Centromeres

The histone H3 variant CENP-A is the most favored candidate for an epigenetic mark that specifies the centromere. In fission yeast, adjacent heterochromatin can direct CENP-ACnp1 chromatin establishment, but the underlying features governing where CENP-ACnp1 chromatin assembles are unknown. We show that, in addition to centromeric regions, a low level of CENP-ACnp1 associates with gene promoters where histone H3 is depleted by the activity of the Hrp1Chd1 chromatin-remodeling factor. Moreover, we demonstrate that noncoding RNAs are transcribed by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) from CENP-ACnp1 chromatin at centromeres. These analyses reveal a similarity between centromeres and a subset of RNAPII genes and suggest a role for remodeling at RNAPII promoters within centromeres that influences the replacement of histone H3 with CENP-ACnp1.

HAT–HDAC interplay modulates global histone H3K14 acetylation in gene-coding regions during stress

Histone acetylation and deacetylation are important for gene regulation. The histone acetyltransferase, Gcn5, is an activator of transcriptional initiation that is recruited to gene promoters. Here, we map genome‐wide Gcn5 occupancy and histone H3K14ac at high resolution. Gcn5 is predominantly localized to coding regions of highly transcribed genes, where it collaborates antagonistically with the class‐II histone deacetylase, Clr3, to modulate H3K14ac levels and transcriptional elongation. An interplay between Gcn5 and Clr3 is crucial for the regulation of many stress‐response genes. Our findings suggest a new role for Gcn5 during transcriptional elongation, in addition to its known role in transcriptional initiation.

Topoisomerase I regulates open chromatin and controls gene expression in vivo

DNA topoisomerases regulate the topological state of the DNA double helix and are key enzymes in the processes of DNA replication, transcription and genome stability. Using the fission yeast model Schizosaccharomyces pombe, we investigate genome wide how DNA topoisomerases I and II affect chromatin dynamics and gene expression in vivo. We show that topoisomerase I activity is directly required for efficient nucleosome disassembly at gene promoter regions. Lack of topoisomerase activity results in increased nucleosome occupancy, perturbed histone modifications and reduced transcription from these promoters. Strong correlative evidence suggests that topoisomerase I cooperates with the ATP‐dependent chromatin remodeller Hrp1 in nucleosome disassembly. Our study links topoisomerase activity to the maintenance of open chromatin and regulating transcription in vivo.

The Schizosaccharomyces pombe JmjC-protein, Msc1, prevents H2A.Z localization in centromeric and subtelomeric chromatin domains

Eukaryotic genomes are repetitively packaged into chromatin by nucleosomes, however they are regulated by the differences between nucleosomes, which establish various chromatin states. Local chromatin cues direct the inheritance and propagation of chromatin status via self-reinforcing epigenetic mechanisms. Replication-independent histone exchange could potentially perturb chromatin status if histone exchange chaperones, such as Swr1C, loaded histone variants into wrong sites. Here we show that in Schizosaccharomyces pombe, like Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Swr1C is required for loading H2A.Z into specific sites, including the promoters of lowly expressed genes. However S. pombe Swr1C has an extra subunit, Msc1, which is a JumonjiC-domain protein of the Lid/Jarid1 family. Deletion of Msc1 did not disrupt the S. pombe Swr1C or its ability to bind and load H2A.Z into euchromatin, however H2A.Z was ectopically found in the inner centromere and in subtelomeric chromatin. Normally this subtelomeric region not only lacks H2A.Z but also shows uniformly lower levels of H3K4me2, H4K5, and K12 acetylation than euchromatin and disproportionately contains the most lowly expressed genes during vegetative growth, including many meiotic-specific genes. Genes within and adjacent to subtelomeric chromatin become overexpressed in the absence of either Msc1, Swr1, or paradoxically H2A.Z itself. We also show that H2A.Z is N-terminally acetylated before, and lysine acetylated after, loading into chromatin and that it physically associates with the Nap1 histone chaperone. However, we find a negative correlation between the genomic distributions of H2A.Z and Nap1/Hrp1/Hrp3, suggesting that the Nap1 chaperones remove H2A.Z from chromatin. These data describe H2A.Z action in S. pombe and identify a new mode of chromatin surveillance and maintenance based on negative regulation of histone variant misincorporation.

Specific functions for the fission yeast Sirtuins Hst2 and Hst4 in gene regulation and retrotransposon silencing

Expression profiling, ChiP–CHIP and phenotypic analysis were used to investigate the functional relationships of class III NAD+‐dependent HDACs (Sirtuins) in fission yeast. We detected significant histone acetylation increases in Sirtuin mutants at their specific genomic binding targets and were thus able to identify an in vivo substrate preference for each Sirtuin. At heterochromatic loci, we demonstrate that although Hst2 is mainly cytoplasmic, a nuclear pool of Hst2 colocalizes with the other Sirtuins at silent regions (cen, mat, tel, rDNA), and that like the other Sirtuins, Hst2 is required for rDNA and centromeric silencing. Interestingly we found specific functions for the fission yeast Sirtuins Hst2 and Hst4 in gene regulation. Hst2 directly represses genes involved in transport and membrane function, whereas Hst4 represses amino‐acid biosynthesis genes and Tf2 retrotransposons. A specific role for Hst4 in Tf2 5′ mRNA processing was revealed. Thus, Sirtuins share functions at many genomic targets, but Hst2 and Hst4 have also evolved unique functions in gene regulation.

Fission Yeast Iec1-Ino80-Mediated Nucleosome Eviction Regulates Nucleotide and Phosphate Metabolism

ABSTRACT Ino80 is an ATP-dependent nucleosome-remodeling enzyme involved in transcription, replication, and the DNA damage response. Here, we characterize the fission yeast Ino80 and find that it is essential for cell viability. We show that the Ino80 complex from fission yeast mediates ATP-dependent nucleosome remodeling in vitro. The purification of the Ino80-associated complex identified a highly conserved complex and the presence of a novel zinc finger protein with similarities to the mammalian transcriptional regulator Yin Yang 1 (YY1) and other members of the GLI-Krüppel family of proteins. Deletion of this Iec1 protein or the Ino80 complex subunit arp8, ies6, or ies2 causes defects in DNA damage repair, the response to replication stress, and nucleotide metabolism. We show that Iec1 is important for the correct expression of genes involved in nucleotide metabolism, including the ribonucleotide reductase subunit cdc22 and phosphate- and adenine-responsive genes. We find that Ino80 is recruited to a large number of promoter regions on phosphate starvation, including those of phosphate- and adenine-responsive genes that depend on Iec1 for correct expression. Iec1 is required for the binding of Ino80 to target genes and subsequent histone loss at the promoter and throughout the body of these genes on phosphate starvation. This suggests that the Iec1-Ino80 complex promotes transcription through nucleosome eviction.

Topoisomerases, chromatin and transcription termination

In eukaryotes transcription is complicated by the DNA being packed in nucleosomes and by supercoils induced by opening of the DNA double helix during elongation. Here we discuss our recent genome-wide work regarding topoisomerases and their role in chromatin remodeling during the transcription cycle and we report a novel function for topoisomerases in transcription termination.

SWI/SNF-like chromatin remodeling factor Fun30 supports point centromere function in S. cerevisiae.

Budding yeast centromeres are sequence-defined point centromeres and are, unlike in many other organisms, not embedded in heterochromatin. Here we show that Fun30, a poorly understood SWI/SNF-like chromatin remodeling factor conserved in humans, promotes point centromere function through the formation of correct chromatin architecture at centromeres. Our determination of the genome-wide binding and nucleosome positioning properties of Fun30 shows that this enzyme is consistently enriched over centromeres and that a majority of CENs show Fun30-dependent changes in flanking nucleosome position and/or CEN core micrococcal nuclease accessibility. Fun30 deletion leads to defects in histone variant Htz1 occupancy genome-wide, including at and around most centromeres. FUN30 genetically interacts with CSE4, coding for the centromere-specific variant of histone H3, and counteracts the detrimental effect of transcription through centromeres on chromosome segregation and suppresses transcriptional noise over centromere CEN3. Previous work has shown a requirement for fission yeast and mammalian homologs of Fun30 in heterochromatin assembly. As centromeres in budding yeast are not embedded in heterochromatin, our findings indicate a direct role of Fun30 in centromere chromatin by promoting correct chromatin architecture.

Genome-wide mapping of histone modifications and mass spectrometry reveal H4 acetylation bias and H3K36 methylation at gene promoters in fission yeast

AIMS To map histone modifications with unprecedented resolution both globally and locus-specifically, and to link modification patterns to gene expression. MATERIALS & METHODS Using correlations between quantitative mass spectrometry and chromatin immunoprecipitation/microarray analyses, we have mapped histone post-translational modifications in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). RESULTS Acetylations at lysine 9, 18 and 27 of histone H3 give the best positive correlations with gene expression in this organism. Using clustering analysis and gene ontology search tools, we identified promoter histone modification patterns that characterize several classes of gene function. For example, gene promoters of genes involved in cytokinesis have high H3K36me2 and low H3K4me2, whereas the converse pattern is found ar promoters of gene involved in positive regulation of the cell cycle. We detected acetylation of H4 preferentially at lysine 16 followed by lysine 12, 8 and 5. Our analysis shows that this H4 acetylation bias in the coding regions is dependent upon gene length and linked to gene expression. Our analysis also reveals a role for H3K36 methylation at gene promoters where it functions in a crosstalk between the histone methyltransferase Set2(KMT3) and the histone deacetylase Clr6, which removes H3K27ac leading to repression of transcription. CONCLUSION Histone modification patterns could be linked to gene expression in fission yeast.

Heterochromatin tells CENP-A where to go

The centromere is the region of the chromosome where the kinetochore forms. Kinetochores are the attachment sites for spindle microtubules that separate duplicated chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis. Kinetochore formation depends on a special chromatin structure containing the histone H3 variant CENP-A. The epigenetic mechanisms that maintain CENP-A chromatin throughout the cell cycle have been studied extensively but little is known about the mechanism that targets CENP-A to naked centromeric DNA templates. In a recent report published in Science, such de novo centromere assembly of CENP-A is shown to be dependent on heterochromatin and the RNA interference pathway.