Deep representation learning improves prediction of LacI-mediated transcriptional repression.

Recent progress in DNA synthesis and sequencing technology has enabled systematic studies of protein function at a massive scale. We explore a deep mutational scanning study that measured the transcriptional repression function of 43,669 variants of the LacI protein. We analyze structural and evolutionary aspects that relate to how the function of this protein is maintained, including an in-depth look at the C-terminal domain.

A deep learning approach to programmable RNA switches.

Engineered RNA elements are programmable tools capable of detecting small molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids. Predicting the behavior of these synthetic biology components remains a challenge, a situation that could be addressed through enhanced pattern recognition from deep learning. Here, we investigate Deep Neural Networks (DNN) to predict toehold switch function as a canonical riboswitch model in synthetic biology.

An unbiased index to quantify participant's phenotypic contribution to an open-access cohort.

The Personal Genome Project (PGP) is an effort to enroll many participants to create an open-access repository of genome, health and trait data for research. However, PGP participants are not enrolled for studying any specific traits and participants choose the phenotypes to disclose. To measure the extent and willingness and to encourage and guide participants to contribute phenotypes, we developed an algorithm to score and rank the phenotypes and participants of the PGP.

Engineering an allosteric transcription factor to respond to new ligands.

Genetic regulatory proteins inducible by small molecules are useful synthetic biology tools as sensors and switches. Bacterial allosteric transcription factors (aTFs) are a major class of regulatory proteins, but few aTFs have been redesigned to respond to new effectors beyond natural aTF-inducer pairs. Altering inducer specificity in these proteins is difficult because substitutions that affect inducer binding may also disrupt allostery.

Dataset of transcriptional landscape of B cell early activation.

Signaling via B cell receptors (BCR) and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) result in activation of B cells with distinct physiological outcomes, but transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that drive activation and distinguish these pathways remain unknown. At early time points after BCR and TLR ligand exposure, 0.5 and 2 h, RNA-seq was performed allowing observations on rapid transcriptional changes.

Divergence of transcriptional landscape occurs early in B cell activation.

Background: Signaling via B cell receptor (BCR) and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) results in activation of B cells with distinct physiological outcomes, but transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that drive activation and distinguish these pathways remain unknown.

Results: Two hours after ligand exposure RNA-seq, ChIP-seq and computational methods reveal that BCR- or TLR-mediated activation of primary resting B cells proceeds via a large set of shared and a smaller subset of distinct signal-selective transcriptional responses. BCR stimulation resulted in increased global recruitment of RNA Pol II to promoters that appear to transit slowly to downstream regions.

SET for life: biochemical activities and biological functions of SET domain-containing proteins.

SET domain-containing proteins belong to a group of enzymes named after a common domain that utilizes the cofactor S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) to achieve methylation of its substrates. Many SET domain-containing proteins have been shown to display catalytic activity towards particular lysine residues on histones, but emerging evidence also indicates that various non-histone proteins are specifically targeted by this clade of enzymes. Here, we summarize the most recent findings on the biological functions of the major families of SET domain-containing proteins catalyzing the methylation of histones 3 on lysines 4, 9, 27, and 36 (H3K4, H3K9, H3K27, and H3K36) and histone 4 on lysine 20 (H4K20) as well as candidates that have been reported to regulate non-histone substrates.

The Mll2 branch of the COMPASS family regulates bivalent promoters in mouse embryonic stem cells.

Promoters of many developmentally regulated genes, in the embryonic stem cell state, have a bivalent mark of H3K27me3 and H3K4me3, proposed to confer precise temporal activation upon differentiation. Although Polycomb repressive complex 2 is known to implement H3K27 trimethylation, the COMPASS family member responsible for H3K4me3 at bivalently marked promoters was previously unknown. Here, we identify Mll2 (KMT2b) as the enzyme catalyzing H3K4 trimethylation at bivalentlymarked promoters in embryonic stem cells.

The little elongation complex functions at initiation and elongation phases of snRNA gene transcription.

The small nuclear RNA (snRNA) genes have been widely used as a model system for understanding transcriptional regulation due to the unique aspects of their promoter structure, selectivity for either RNA polymerase (Pol) II or III, and because of their unique mechanism of termination that is tightly linked with the promoter. Recently, we identified the little elongation complex (LEC) in Drosophila that is required for the expression of Pol II-transcribed snRNA genes. Here, using Drosophila and mammalian systems, we provide genetic and molecular evidence that LEC functions in at least two phases of snRNA transcription: an initiation step requiring the ICE1 subunit, and an elongation step requiring ELL.

Sequencing of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) genome provides insights into vertebrate evolution.

Lampreys are representatives of an ancient vertebrate lineage that diverged from our own ∼500 million years ago. By virtue of this deeply shared ancestry, the sea lamprey (P. marinus) genome is uniquely poised to provide insight into the ancestry of vertebrate genomes and the underlying principles of vertebrate biology.

The RNA Pol II elongation factor Ell3 marks enhancers in ES cells and primes future gene activation.

Enhancers play a central role in precisely regulating the expression of developmentally regulated genes. However, the machineries required for enhancer-promoter communication have remained largely unknown. We have found that Ell3, a member of the Ell (eleven-nineteen lysine-rich leukemia gene) family of RNA Pol II elongation factors, occupies enhancers in embryonic stem cells.

Poised RNA polymerase II changes over developmental time and prepares genes for future expression.

Poised RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is predominantly found at developmental control genes and is thought to allow their rapid and synchronous induction in response to extracellular signals. How the recruitment of poised RNA Pol II is regulated during development is not known. By isolating muscle tissue from Drosophila embryos at five stages of differentiation, we show that the recruitment of poised Pol II occurs at many genes de novo and this makes them permissive for future gene expression.

Enhancer-associated H3K4 monomethylation by Trithorax-related, the Drosophila homolog of mammalian Mll3/Mll4.

Monomethylation of histone H3 on Lys 4 (H3K4me1) and acetylation of histone H3 on Lys 27 (H3K27ac) are histone modifications that are highly enriched over the body of actively transcribed genes and on enhancers. Although in yeast all H3K4 methylation patterns, including H3K4me1, are implemented by Set1/COMPASS (complex of proteins associated with Set1), there are three classes of COMPASS-like complexes in Drosophila that could carry out H3K4me1 on enhancers: dSet1, Trithorax, and Trithorax-related (Trr). Here, we report that Trr, the Drosophila homolog of the mammalian Mll3/4 COMPASS-like complexes, can function as a major H3K4 monomethyltransferase on enhancers in vivo.