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Preferential accumulation of mutant proteins in the nucleus has been suggested to be the molecular culprit that confers cellular toxicity in the neurodegenerative disorders caused by polyglutamine (polyQ) expansion. Here, we use dynamic imaging approaches, orthogonal cross-seeding, and composition analysis to examine the dynamics and structure of nuclear and cytoplasmic inclusions of atrophin-1, implicated in dentatorubropallidoluysian atrophy, a polyQ-based disease with complex clinical features. Our results reveal a large heterogeneity in the dynamics of the nuclear inclusions compared with the compact and immobile cytoplasmic aggregates. At least two types of inclusions of expanded atrophin-1 with different mobility of the molecular species and ability to exchange with the surrounding monomer pool coexist in the nucleus. Intriguingly, the enrichment of nuclear inclusions with slow dynamics parallels changes in the aggregate core architecture that are dominated by the polyQ stretch. We propose that the observed complexity in the dynamics of the nuclear inclusions provides a molecular explanation for the enhanced cellular toxicity of the nuclear aggregates in polyQ-based neurodegeneration.
Clusters of codons pairing to low-abundance tRNAs synchronize the translation with co-translational folding of single domains in multidomain proteins. Although proven with some examples, the impact of the ribosomal speed on the folding and solubility on a global, cell-wide level remains elusive. Here we show that upregulation of three low-abundance tRNAs in Escherichia coil increased the aggregation propensity of several cellular proteins as a result of an accelerated elongation rate. Intriguingly, alterations in the concentration of the natural tRNA pool compromised the solubility of various chaperones consequently rendering the solubility of some chaperone-dependent proteins.
The most crucial step in data processing from high-throughput sequencing applications is the accurate and sensitive alignment of the sequencing reads to reference genomes or transcriptomes. The accurate detection of insertions and deletions (indels) and errors introduced by the sequencing platform or by misreading of modified nucleotides is essential for the quantitative processing of the RNA-based sequencing (RNA-Seq) datasets and for the identification of genetic variations and modification patterns. We developed a new, fast and accurate algorithm for nucleic acid sequence analysis, FANSe, with adjustable mismatch allowance settings and ability to handle indels to accurately and quantitatively map millions of reads to small or large reference genomes. It is a seed-based algorithm which uses the whole read information for mapping and high sensitivity and low ambiguity are achieved by using short and non-overlapping reads. Furthermore, FANSe uses hotspot score to prioritize the processing of highly possible matches and implements modified Smith-Watermann refinement with reduced scoring matrix to accelerate the calculation without compromising its sensitivity. The FANSe algorithm stably processes datasets from various sequencing platforms, masked or unmasked and small or large genomes. It shows a remarkable coverage of low-abundance mRNAs which is important for quantitative processing of RNA-Seq datasets.
Transfer RNAs (tRNAs) through their abundance and modification pattern significantly influence protein translation. Here, we present a systematic analysis of the tRNAome of Lactococcus lactis. Using the next-generation sequencing approach, we identified 40 tRNAs which carry 16 different post-transcriptional modifications as revealed by mass spectrometry analysis. While small modifications are located in the tRNA body, hypermodified nucleotides are mainly present in the anticodon loop, which through wobbling expand the decoding potential of the tRNAs. Using tRNA-based microarrays, we also determined the dynamics in tRNA abundance upon changes in the growth rate and heterologous protein overexpression stress. With a fourfold increase in the growth rate, the relative abundance of tRNAs cognate to low abundance codons decrease, while the tRNAs cognate to major codons remain mostly unchanged. Significant changes in the tRNA abundances are observed upon protein overexpression stress, which does not correlate with the codon usage of the overexpressed gene but rather reflects the altered expression of housekeeping genes.
Environmental stress is detrimental to cell viability and requires an adequate reprogramming of cellular activities to maximize cell survival. We present a global analysis of the response of Escherichia coli to acute heat and osmotic stress. We combine deep sequencing of total mRNA and ribosome-protected fragments to provide a genome-wide map of the stress response at transcriptional and translational levels. For each type of stress, we observe a unique subset of genes that shape the stress-specific response. Upon temperature upshift, mRNAs with reduced folding stability up-and downstream of the start codon, and thus with more accessible initiation regions, are translationally favoured. Conversely, osmotic upshift causes a global reduction of highly translated transcripts with high copy numbers, allowing reallocation of translation resources to not degraded and newly synthesized mRNAs.