Virginie Marchand

2-D Structure of the A Region of Xist RNA and Its Implication for PRC2 Association

Structural analyses provide new insights into the folding of the A region of the Xist RNA, which plays a crucial role in X chromosome inactivation, and its mechanism of protein recruitment.

A Janus Splicing Regulatory Element Modulates HIV-1 tat and rev mRNA Production by Coordination of hnRNP A1 Cooperative Binding

Retroviral protein production depends upon alternative splicing of the viral transcript. The HIV-1 acceptor site A7 is required for tat and rev mRNA production. Production of the Tat transcriptional activator is highly controlled because of its apoptotic properties. Two silencer elements (ESS3 and ISS) and two enhancer elements (ESE2 and ESE3/(GAA)3) were previously identified at site A7. hnRNP A1 binds ISS and ESS3 and is involved in the inhibitory process, ASF/SF2 activates site A7 utilisation. Here, by using chemical and enzymatic probes we established the 2D structure of the HIV-1(BRU) RNA region containing site A7 and identified the RNA segments protected in nuclear extract and by purified hnRNP A1. ISS, ESE3/(GAA)3 and ESS3 are located in three distinct stem-loop structures (SLS1, 2 and 3). As expected, hnRNP A1 binds sites 1, 2 and 3 of ISS and ESS3b, and oligomerises on the polypurine sequence upstream of ESS3b. In addition, we discovered an unidentified hnRNP A1 binding site (AUAGAA), that overlaps ESE3/(GAA)3. On the basis of competition experiments, hnRNP A1 has a stronger affinity for this site than for ESS3b. By insertion of (GAA)3 alone or preceded by the AUA trinucleotide in a foreign context, the AUAGAA sequence was found to modulate strongly the (GAA)3 splicing enhancer activity. Cross-linking experiments on these heterologous RNAs and the SLS2-SLS3 HIV-1 RNA region, in nuclear extract and with recombinant proteins, showed that binding of hnRNP A1 to AUA(GAA)3 strongly competes the association of ASF/SF2 with (GAA)3. In addition, disruption of AUA(GAA)3 demonstrated a key role of this sequence in hnRNP A1 cooperative binding to the ISS and ESS3b inhibitors and hnRNP A1 oligomerisation on the polypurine sequence. Thus, depending on the cellular context ([ASF/SF2]/[hnRNP A1] ratio), AUA(GAA)3 will activate or repress site A7 utilisation and can thus be considered as a Janus splicing regulator.

Alternative splicing: regulation of HIV-1 multiplication as a target for therapeutic action

The retroviral life cycle requires that significant amounts of RNA remain unspliced and perform several functions in the cytoplasm. Thus, the full‐length RNA serves both the viral genetic material that will be encapsulated in viral particles and the mRNA encoding structural and enzymatic proteins required for viral replication. Simple retroviruses produce one single‐spliced env RNA from the full‐length precursor RNA, whereas complex retroviruses, such as HIV, are characterized by the production of multiple‐spliced RNA species. In this review we will summarize the current acknowledge about the HIV‐1 alternative splicing mechanism and will describe how this malleable process can help further understanding of infection, spread and dissemination through splicing regulation. Such studies coupled with the testing of splicing inhibitors should help the development of new therapeutic antiviral agents.

Illumina-based RiboMethSeq approach for mapping of 2′-O-Me residues in RNA

RNA 2′-O-methylation is one of the ubiquitous nucleotide modifications found in many RNA types from Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. RNAs bearing 2′-O-methylations show increased resistance to degradation and enhanced stability in helices. While the exact role of each 2′-O-Me residue remained elusive, the catalytic protein Fibrillarin (Nop1 in yeast) responsible for 2′-O-methylation in eukaryotes, is associated with human pathologies. Therefore, there is an urgent need to precisely map and quantify hundreds of 2′-O-Me residues in RNA using high-throughput technologies. Here, we develop a reliable protocol using alkaline fragmentation of total RNA coupled to a commonly used ligation approach, and Illumina sequencing. We describe a methodology to detect 2′-O-methylations with high sensitivity and reproducibility even with limited amount of starting material (1 ng of total RNA). The method provides a quantification of the 2′-O-methylation occupancy of a given site, allowing to detect relatively small changes (>10%) in 2′-O-methylation profiles. Altogether this technique unlocks a technological barrier since it will be applicable for routine parallel treatment of biological and clinical samples to decipher the functions of 2′-O-methylations in pathologies.

Identification of protein partners of the human immunodeficiency virus 1 tat/rev exon 3 leads to the discovery of a new HIV-1 splicing regulator, protein hnRNP K.

HIV-1 pre-mRNA splicing depends upon 4 donor and 8 acceptor sites, which are used in combination to produce more than 40 different mRNAs. The acceptor site A7 plays an essential role for tat and rev mRNA production. The SLS2-A7 stem-loop structure containing site A7 was also proposed to modulate HIV-1 RNA export by the Rev protein. To further characterize nuclear factors involved in these processes, we purified RNP complexes formed by incubation of SLS2-A7 RNA transcripts in HeLa cell nuclear extracts by affinity chromatography and identified 33 associated proteins by nanoLC-MS/MS. By UV cross-linking, immunoselection and EMSA, we showed that, in addition to the well-known hnRNP A1 inhibitor of site A7, nucleolin, hnRNP H and hnRNP K interact directly with SLS2-A7 RNA. Nucleolin binds to a cluster of successive canonical NRE motifs in SLS2-A7 RNA, which is unique in HIV-1 RNA. Proteins hnRNP A1 and hnRNP K bind synergistically to SLS2-A7 RNA and both have a negative effect on site A7 activity. By the use of a plasmid expressing a truncated version of HIV-1 RNA, we showed a strong effect of the overexpression of hnRNP K in HeLa cells on HIV-1 alternative splicing. As a consequence, production of the Nef protein was strongly reduced. Interestingly also, many proteins identified in our proteomic analysis are known to modulate either the Rev activity or other mechanisms required for HIV-1 multiplication and several of them seem to be recruited by hnRNP K, suggesting that hnRNP K plays an important role for HIV-1 biology.

High-throughput sequencing for 1-methyladenosine (m1A) mapping in RNA

Detection and mapping of modified nucleotides in RNAs is a difficult and laborious task. Several physico-chemical approaches based on differential properties of modified nucleotides can be used, however, most of these methods do not allow high-throughput analysis. Here we describe in details a method for mapping of rather common 1-methyladenosine (m(1)A) residues using high-throughput next generation sequencing (NGS). Since m(1)A residues block primer extension during reverse transcription (RT), the accumulation of abortive products as well as the nucleotide misincorporation can be detected in the sequencing data. The described library preparation protocol allows to capture both types of cDNA products essential for further bioinformatic analysis. We demonstrate that m(1)A residues produce characteristic arrest and mismatch rates and combination of both can be used for their detection as well as for discrimination of m(1)A from other modified A residues present in RNAs.

Evidence for rRNA 2′-O-methylation plasticity: Control of intrinsic translational capabilities of human ribosomes

Significance Translational control is a cornerstone of gene-expression regulation in physiological and pathological contexts. The contribution of nonribosomal factors, including messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and mRNA-bound factors, to translational control have been extensively studied. Recently, the hypothesis of a ribosome-mediated regulation emerged, which proposes that cells produce ribosomes of different composition and displaying different translational properties. This work reveals that ribosomal RNA 2′-O-methylation can be modulated in human ribosomes, including at key functional sites for translation, and that changes in the 2′-O-methylation pattern control the intrinsic capabilities of ribosomes to translate mRNAs. This work directly demonstrates the existence of composition-modified ribosomes and their associated change in translational activity as conceptualized by the specialized ribosome concept. Ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) are main effectors of messenger RNA (mRNA) decoding, peptide-bond formation, and ribosome dynamics during translation. Ribose 2′-O-methylation (2′-O-Me) is the most abundant rRNA chemical modification, and displays a complex pattern in rRNA. 2′-O-Me was shown to be essential for accurate and efficient protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells. However, whether rRNA 2′-O-Me is an adjustable feature of the human ribosome and a means of regulating ribosome function remains to be determined. Here we challenged rRNA 2′-O-Me globally by inhibiting the rRNA methyl-transferase fibrillarin in human cells. Using RiboMethSeq, a nonbiased quantitative mapping of 2′-O-Me, we identified a repertoire of 2′-O-Me sites subjected to variation and demonstrate that functional domains of ribosomes are targets of 2′-O-Me plasticity. Using the cricket paralysis virus internal ribosome entry site element, coupled to in vitro translation, we show that the intrinsic capability of ribosomes to translate mRNAs is modulated through a 2′-O-Me pattern and not by nonribosomal actors of the translational machinery. Our data establish rRNA 2′-O-Me plasticity as a mechanism providing functional specificity to human ribosomes.

Engineering of a DNA Polymerase for Direct m6A Sequencing

Abstract Methods for the detection of RNA modifications are of fundamental importance for advancing epitranscriptomics. N 6‐methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant RNA modification in mammalian mRNA and is involved in the regulation of gene expression. Current detection techniques are laborious and rely on antibody‐based enrichment of m6A‐containing RNA prior to sequencing, since m6A modifications are generally “erased” during reverse transcription (RT). To overcome the drawbacks associated with indirect detection, we aimed to generate novel DNA polymerase variants for direct m6A sequencing. Therefore, we developed a screen to evolve an RT‐active KlenTaq DNA polymerase variant that sets a mark for N 6‐methylation. We identified a mutant that exhibits increased misincorporation opposite m6A compared to unmodified A. Application of the generated DNA polymerase in next‐generation sequencing allowed the identification of m6A sites directly from the sequencing data of untreated RNA samples.

Identification of sites of 2′-O-methylation vulnerability in human ribosomal RNAs by systematic mapping

Ribosomal RNA modifications are important in optimizing ribosome function. Sugar 2′-O-methylation performed by fibrillarin-associated box C/D antisense guide snoRNAs impacts all steps of translation, playing a role in disease etiology (cancer). As it renders adjacent phosphodiester bonds resistant to alkaline treatment, 2′-O-methylation can be monitored qualitatively and quantitatively by applying next-generation sequencing to fragments of randomly cleaved RNA. We remapped all sites of 2′-O-methylation in human rRNAs in two isogenic diploid cell lines, one producing and one not producing the antitumor protein p53. We identified sites naturally modified only partially (confirming the existence in cells of compositionally distinct ribosomes with potentially specialized functions) and sites whose 2′-O-methylation is sensitive to p53. We mapped sites particularly vulnerable to a reduced level of the methyltransferase fibrillarin. The remarkable fact that these are largely sites of natural hypomodification provides initial insights into the mechanism of partial RNA modification. Sites where methylation appeared vulnerable lie peripherally on the 3-D structure of the ribosomal subunits, whereas the numerous modifications present at the core of the subunits, where the functional centers lie, appeared robustly made. We suggest that vulnerable sites of 2′-O-methylation are highly likely to undergo specific regulation during normal and pathological processes.

Next‐Generation Sequencing‐Based RiboMethSeq Protocol for Analysis of tRNA 2′‐O‐Methylation

Analysis of RNA modifications by traditional physico-chemical approaches is labor intensive, requires substantial amounts of input material and only allows site-by-site measurements. The recent development of qualitative and quantitative approaches based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) opens new perspectives for the analysis of various cellular RNA species. The Illumina sequencing-based RiboMethSeq protocol was initially developed and successfully applied for mapping of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) 2′-O-methylations. This method also gives excellent results in the quantitative analysis of rRNA modifications in different species and under varying growth conditions. However, until now, RiboMethSeq was only employed for rRNA, and the whole sequencing and analysis pipeline was only adapted to this long and rather conserved RNA species. A deep understanding of RNA modification functions requires large and global analysis datasets for other important RNA species, namely for transfer RNAs (tRNAs), which are well known to contain a great variety of functionally-important modified residues. Here, we evaluated the application of the RiboMethSeq protocol for the analysis of tRNA 2′-O-methylation in Escherichia coli and in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. After a careful optimization of the bioinformatic pipeline, RiboMethSeq proved to be suitable for relative quantification of methylation rates for known modified positions in different tRNA species.