Mari, P.-O. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2019

β-Actin and Nuclear Myosin I are responsible for nucleolar reorganization during DNA Repair.

During DNA Repair, ribosomal DNA and RNA polymerase I (rDNA/RNAP1) are reorganized within the nucleolus. Until now, the proteins and the molecular mechanism governing this reorganisation remained unknown.\n\nHere we show that Nuclear Myosin I (NMI) and Nuclear Beta Actin (ACT{beta}) are essential for the proper reorganisation of the nucleolus, after completion of the DNA Repair reaction.\n\nIn NMI and ACT{beta} depleted cells, the rDNA/RNAP1 complex can be displaced at the periphery of the nucleolus after DNA damage but cannot re-enter within the nucleolus after completion of the DNA Repair. Both proteins act concertedly in this process. NMI binds the damaged rDNA at the periphery of the nucleolus, while ACT{beta} brings the rDNA back within the nucleolus after DNA repair completion. Our results reveal a previously unidentified function for NMI and ACT{beta} and disclose how these two proteins work in coordination to re-establish the proper rDNA position after DNA repair.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Cell-type specific concentration regulation of the basal transcription factor TFIIH

The basal transcription/repair factor TFIIH is a ten sub-unit complex essential for RNA polymerase II (RNAP2) transcription initiation and DNA repair. In both these processes TFIIH acts as a DNA helix opener (by the enzymatic activity of the XPB and XPD helicases), required for promoter escape of RNAP2 in transcription initiation, and to set the stage for strand incision within the Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) pathway. We generated a knock-in mouse model that endogenously expresses a fluorescent version of XPB. Here we demonstrate, via confocal imaging of ex vivo tissues and cells derived from this mouse model, that TFIIH steady state levels are tightly regulated at the single cell level, thus keeping nuclear TFIIH concentrations remarkably constant in a cell type dependent manner. Moreover, we show that individual cellular TFIIH levels are proportional to the speed of mRNA production, hence to a cells transcriptional activity, which we can correlate to proliferation status. Importantly, cancer tissue presents a higher TFIIH than normal healthy tissues. Taken together, these results show that TFIIH cellular concentration might be used as a bona-fide marker of transcriptional activity and proliferation.\n\nSignificanceUsing a mouse model expressing a fluorescently version of TFIIH, we showed that TFIIH concentration is tightly controlled and that this concentration is proportional to the cellular transcriptional activity and proliferation capacity.

cell biology↗