Publications by authors named "Annabelle Gerard"

Mining the antibody repertoire of plasma cells and plasmablasts could enable the discovery of useful antibodies for therapeutic or research purposes. We present a method for high-throughput, single-cell screening of IgG-secreting primary cells to characterize antibody binding to soluble and membrane-bound antigens. CelliGO is a droplet microfluidics system that combines high-throughput screening for IgG activity, using fluorescence-based in-droplet single-cell bioassays, with sequencing of paired antibody V genes, using in-droplet single-cell barcoded reverse transcription.

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Modulation of chromatin structure via histone modification is a major epigenetic mechanism and regulator of gene expression. However, the contribution of chromatin features to tumor heterogeneity and evolution remains unknown. Here we describe a high-throughput droplet microfluidics platform to profile chromatin landscapes of thousands of cells at single-cell resolution.

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The persistence of a latent reservoir containing transcriptionally silent, but replication-competent, integrated provirus is a serious challenge to HIV eradication. HIV integration is under the control of LEDGF/p75, the cellular cofactor of viral integrase. Investigating possible postintegration roles for LEDGF/p75, we find that LEDGF/p75 represses HIV expression in latently infected cells.

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The functions of Beclin-1 in macroautophagy, tumorigenesis and cytokinesis are thought to be mediated by its association with the PI3K-III complex. Here, we describe a new role for Beclin-1 in mitotic chromosome congression that is independent of the PI3K-III complex and its role in autophagy. Beclin-1 depletion in HeLa cells leads to a significant reduction of the outer kinetochore proteins CENP-E, CENP-F and ZW10, and, consequently, the cells present severe problems in chromosome congression.

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Background: HIV-1 replication requires integration of its reverse transcribed viral cDNA into a host cell chromosome. The DNA cutting and joining reactions associated to this key step are catalyzed by the viral protein integrase (IN). In infected cells, IN binds the viral cDNA, together with viral and cellular proteins, to form large nucleoprotein complexes.

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Here we describe methods developed based on systematic yeast two-hybrid screenings that allowed us to identify several binding partners of HIV-1 integrase. We have developed an efficient strategy to perform large comprehensive screenings with different highly complex cDNA libraries derived both random- and oligo-dT primed reactions. A very efficient mating procedure was used for screening in yeast, allowing genetic saturation of positive clones.

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The heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1)-rich heterochromatin domains next to centromeres are crucial for chromosome segregation during mitosis. This mitotic function requires their faithful reproduction during the preceding S phase, a process whose mechanism and regulation are current puzzles. Here we show that p150, a subunit of chromatin assembly factor 1, has a key role in the replication of pericentric heterochromatin and S-phase progression in mouse cells, independently of its known function in histone deposition.

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The coordination of chromatin assembly with DNA replication, which is essential for genomic stability, requires the combined activation of histone deposition with the firing of replication origins. We report here the direct interaction of chromatin assembly factor 1 (CAF1), a key factor involved in histone deposition, with the replication kinase Cdc7-Dbf4. We isolated a complex containing both the largest subunit of CAF1 (p150) and the Cdc7-Dbf4 kinase specifically in S phase and thus prove the existence of this interaction in vivo.

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In the eukaryotic nucleus, the DNA repair machinery operates on chromatin-embedded DNA substrates. Currently, a favored model for DNA repair into chromatin involves the transient disruption of chromatin organization to facilitate access of the repair machinery to DNA lesions. Importantly, this model implies that, in addition to DNA repair, a subsequent step is necessary to restore a proper chromatin structure.

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Histones are the fundamental structural proteins intimately associated with eukaryotic DNA to form a highly ordered and condensed nucleoproteic complex termed chromatin. They are the targets of various posttranslational modifications including acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation and ubiquitination that modulate the structure/function of chromatin. The combinatorial nature of histone modifications is hypothesized to define a "histone code" that considerably extends the information potential of the genetic code, giving rise to epigenetic information.

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