Steven D. Hanes

The Drosophila Calcipressin Sarah Is Required for Several Aspects of Egg Activation

Activation of mature oocytes initiates development by releasing the prior arrest of female meiosis, degrading certain maternal mRNAs while initiating the translation of others, and modifying egg coverings. In vertebrates and marine invertebrates, the fertilizing sperm triggers activation events through a rise in free calcium within the egg. In insects, egg activation occurs independently of sperm and is instead triggered by passage of the egg through the female reproductive tract ; it is unknown whether calcium signaling is involved. We report here that mutations in sarah, which encodes an inhibitor of the calcium-dependent phosphatase calcineurin, disrupt several aspects of egg activation in Drosophila. Eggs laid by sarah mutant females arrest in anaphase of meiosis I and fail to fully polyadenylate and translate bicoid mRNA. Furthermore, sarah mutant eggs show elevated cyclin B levels, indicating a failure to inactivate M-phase promoting factor (MPF). Taken together, these results demonstrate that calcium signaling is involved in Drosophila egg activation and suggest a molecular mechanism for the sarah phenotype. We also find the conversion of the sperm nucleus into a functional male pronucleus is compromised in sarah mutant eggs, indicating that the Drosophila eggs competence to support male pronuclear maturation is acquired during activation.

Genetic Interactions With C-Terminal Domain (CTD) Kinases and the CTD of RNA Pol II Suggest a Role for ESS1 in Transcription Initiation and Elongation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Ess1 is an essential prolyl isomerase that binds the C-terminal domain (CTD) of Rpb1, the large subunit of RNA polymerase II. Ess1 is proposed to control transcription by isomerizing phospho-Ser-Pro peptide bonds within the CTD repeat. To determine which step(s) in the transcription cycle might require Ess1, we examined genetic interactions between ESS1 and genes encoding the known CTD kinases (KIN28, CTK1, BUR1, and SRB10). Although genetic interactions were identified between ESS1 and all four kinases, the clearest interactions were with CTK1 and SRB10. Reduced dosage of CTK1 rescued the growth defect of ess1ts mutants, while overexpression of CTK1 enhanced the growth defects of ess1ts mutants. Deletion of SRB10 suppressed ess1ts and ess1Δ mutants. The interactions suggest that Ess1 opposes the functions of these kinases, which are thought to function in preinitiation and elongation. Using a series of CTD substitution alleles, we also identified Ser5-Pro6 as a potential target for Ess1 isomerization within the first “half” of the CTD repeats. On the basis of the results, we suggest a model in which Ess1-directed conformational changes promote dephosphorylation of Ser5 to stimulate preinitiation complex formation and, later, to inhibit elongation.

Role of Ess1 in Growth, Morphogenetic Switching, and RNA Polymerase II Transcription in Candida albicans

Candida albicans is a fungal pathogen that causes potentially fatal infections among immune-compromised individuals. The emergence of drug resistant C. albicans strains makes it important to identify new antifungal drug targets. Among potential targets are enzymes known as peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerases (PPIases) that catalyze isomerization of peptide bonds preceding proline. We are investigating a PPIase called Ess1, which is conserved in all major human pathogenic fungi. Previously, we reported that C. albicans Ess1 is essential for growth and morphogenetic switching. In the present study, we re-evaluated these findings using more rigorous genetic analyses, including the use of additional CaESS1 mutant alleles, distinct marker genes, and the engineering of suitably-matched isogenic control strains. The results confirm that CaEss1 is essential for growth in C. albicans, but show that reduction of CaESS1 gene dosage by half (δ/+) does not interfere with morphogenetic switching. However, further reduction of CaEss1 levels using a conditional allele does reduce morphogenetic switching. We also examine the role of the linker α-helix that distinguishes C. albicans Ess1 from the human Pin1 enzyme, and present results of a genome-wide transcriptome analysis. The latter analysis indicates that CaEss1 has a conserved role in regulation of RNA polymerase II function, and is required for efficient termination of small nucleolar RNAs and repression of cryptic transcription in C. albicans.