Chemical screening identifies filastatin, a small molecule inhibitor of Candida albicans adhesion, morphogenesis, and pathogenesis.

Infection by pathogenic fungi, such as Candida albicans, begins with adhesion to host cells or implanted medical devices followed by biofilm formation. By high-throughput phenotypic screening of small molecules, we identified compounds that inhibit adhesion of C. albicans to polystyrene.

Histone chaperone Rtt106 promotes nucleosome formation using (H3-H4)2 tetramers.

The yeast histone chaperone Rtt106 is involved in de novo assembly of newly synthesized histones into nucleosomes during DNA replication and plays a role in regulating heterochromatin silencing and maintaining genomic integrity. The interaction of Rtt106 with H3-H4 is modulated by acetylation of H3 lysine 56 catalyzed by the lysine acetyltransferase Rtt109. Using affinity purification strategies, we demonstrate that Rtt106 interacts with (H3-H4)(2) heterotetramers in vivo.

Structural basis for recognition of H3K56-acetylated histone H3-H4 by the chaperone Rtt106.

Dynamic variations in the structure of chromatin influence virtually all DNA-related processes in eukaryotes and are controlled in part by post-translational modifications of histones. One such modification, the acetylation of lysine 56 (H3K56ac) in the amino-terminal α-helix (αN) of histone H3, has been implicated in the regulation of nucleosome assembly during DNA replication and repair, and nucleosome disassembly during gene transcription. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the histone chaperone Rtt106 contributes to the deposition of newly synthesized H3K56ac-carrying H3-H4 complex on replicating DNA, but it is unclear how Rtt106 binds H3-H4 and specifically recognizes H3K56ac as there is no apparent acetylated lysine reader domain in Rtt106.

Depletion of Med10 enhances Wnt and suppresses Nodal signaling during zebrafish embryogenesis.

The transcriptional Mediator (MED) is a multiprotein complex that transmits information from transcription factors to RNA polymerase II (PolII) to regulate transcription. At present, the role of distinct MED subunits in general transcription versus transcription stimulated by specific signaling pathways is unclear. By means of positional cloning, we reveal that the zebrafish mutant tennismatch is a hypomorphic allele of Med10, a conserved MED middle domain subunit.