Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2009 APS March Meeting
Volume 54, Number 1
Monday–Friday, March 16–20, 2009; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Session X7: DNA Loop Formation, Nucleosome Positioning and Transcriptional Regulation |
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Sponsoring Units: DBP Chair: Phil Nelson, University of Pennsylvania Room: 407 |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 2:30PM - 3:06PM |
X7.00001: Statistical mechanics of chromatin: Inferring free energies of nucleosome formation from high-throughput data sets Invited Speaker: Formation of nucleosome core particles is a first step towards packaging genomic DNA into chromosomes in living cells. Nucleosomes are formed by wrapping 147 base pairs of DNA around a spool of eight histone proteins. It is reasonable to assume that formation of single nucleosomes \textit{in vitro} is determined by DNA sequence alone: it costs less elastic energy to wrap a flexible DNA polymer around the histone octamer, and more if the polymer is rigid. However, it is unclear to which extent this effect is important in living cells. Cells have evolved chromatin remodeling enzymes that expend ATP to actively reposition nucleosomes. In addition, nucleosome positioning on long DNA sequences is affected by steric exclusion - many nucleosomes have to form simultaneously without overlap. Currently available bioinformatics methods for predicting nucleosome positions are trained on \textit{in vivo} data sets and are thus unable to distinguish between extrinsic and intrinsic nucleosome positioning signals. In order to see the relative importance of such signals for nucleosome positioning \textit{in vivo}, we have developed a model based on a large collection of DNA sequences from nucleosomes reconstituted \textit{in vitro }by salt dialysis. We have used these data to infer the free energy of nucleosome formation at each position along the genome. The method uses an exact result from the statistical mechanics of classical 1D fluids to infer the free energy landscape from nucleosome occupancy. We will discuss the degree to which \textit{in vitro} nucleosome occupancy profiles are predictive of \textit{in vivo} nucleosome positions, and will estimate how many nucleosomes are sequence-specific and how many are positioned purely by steric exclusion. Our approach to nucleosome energetics should be applicable across multiple organisms and genomic regions. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:06PM - 3:42PM |
X7.00002: to be determined by you Invited Speaker: |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:42PM - 4:18PM |
X7.00003: Interconvertible Lac Repressor--DNA Loops Revealed by Single-Molecule Experiments Invited Speaker: At many promoters, transcription is regulated by simultaneous binding of a protein to multiple sites on DNA, but the structures and dynamics of such transcription factor-mediated DNA loops are poorly understood. We directly examined in vitro loop formation mediated by E. coli lactose repressor using single-molecule structural and kinetics methods. Small (150 bp) loops form quickly and stably, even with out-of-phase operator spacings. Unexpectedly, repeated spontaneous transitions between two distinct loop structures were observed in individual protein--DNA complexes. The results imply a dynamic equilibrium between a novel loop structure with the repressor in its crystallographic ``V'' conformation and a second structure with a more extended linear repressor conformation that substantially lessens the DNA bending strain. The ability to switch between different loop structures may help to explain how robust transcription regulation is maintained even though the mechanical work required to form a loop may change substantially with metabolic conditions. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 4:18PM - 4:54PM |
X7.00004: The Energy Landscape of Hyperstable LacI-DNA Loops Invited Speaker: The Escherichia coli LacI protein represses transcription of the lac operon by blocking access to the promoter through binding at a promoter-proximal DNA operator. The affinity of tetrameric LacI (and therefore the repression efficiency) is enhanced by simultaneous binding to an auxiliary operator, forming a DNA loop. Hyperstable LacI-DNA loops were previously shown to be formed on DNA constructs that include a sequence-directed bend flanked by operators. Biochemical experiments showed that two such constructs (9C14 and 11C12) with different helical phasing between the operators and the DNA bend form different DNA loop shapes. The geometry and topology of the loops and the relevance of alternative conformations suggested by probable flexible linkers in LacI remain unclear. Bulk and single molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (SM-FRET, with D. English) experiments on a dual fluorophore-labeled 9C14-LacI loop demonstrate that it adopts a single, stable, rigid closed-form loop conformation. Here, we characterize the LacI-9C14 loop by SM-FRET as a function of inducer isopropyl-$\beta$,D-thiogalactoside (IPTG) concentration. Energy transfer measurements reveal partial but incomplete destabilization of loop formation by IPTG. Surprisingly, there is no change in the energy transfer efficiency of the remaining looped population. Models for the regulation of the lac operon often assume complete disruption of LacI-operator complexes upon inducer binding to LacI. Our work shows that even at saturating IPTG there is still a significant population of LacI-DNA complexes in a looped state, in accord with previous in vivo experiments that show incomplete induction (with J. Maher). Finally, we will report progress on characterizing the ``energy landscape'' for DNA looping upon systematic variation of the DNA linkers between the operators and the bending locus. Rod mechanics simulations (with N. Perkins) provide testable predictions on loop stability, topology, and FRET. [Preview Abstract] |
Thursday, March 19, 2009 4:54PM - 5:30PM |
X7.00005: Mechanics of Protein-Mediated DNA Looping Invited Speaker: The formation of looped DNA-protein complexes in which a protein or protein assembly binds to multiple distant operator sites on the DNA is a common feature for many regulatory schemes on the transcriptional level. In a living cell, a multitude of mechanical forces and constraints act on these complexes, and it is imperative to understand their effects on biological function. For this aim, we study the lactose repressor as a model system for protein-mediated DNA looping in single-molecule experiments. Using a novel axial constant-force optical trapping scheme that allows us to manipulate sub-micron DNA fragments with well-controlled forces down to the 10 fN range, we show that mechanical tension in the substrate DNA of hundred femtonewton is sufficient to disrupt the loop formation process, which suggests that such mechanical tension may provide a mechanical pathway to controlling gene expression in vivo. From the force sensitivity of the loop formation process, we can also infer the topology of the looped complex; in our case an antiparallel conformation. In addition, we will present new tethered-particle microscopy data that shows lifetimes of the looped complexes that are two to three orders of magnitude shorter than those measured in biochemical competition assays and discuss possible interpretations, including the suggestion that operator binding of the lactose repressor tetramer leads to a destabilization of the dimer-dimer interface and that thus the loop breakdown process is mostly a dissociation of the tetramer into two dimers, instead, as widely assumed, an unbinding of the tetramer from the DNA. [Preview Abstract] |
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