Cellular zinc status alters chromatin accessibility and binding of p53 to DNA.

Zn is an essential metal required by approximately 850 human transcription factors. How these proteins acquire their essential Zn cofactor and whether they are sensitive to changes in the labile Zn pool in cells remain open questions. Using ATAC-seq to profile regions of accessible chromatin coupled with transcription factor enrichment analysis, we examined how increases and decreases in the labile zinc pool affect chromatin accessibility and transcription factor enrichment.

Protocol for measuring labile cytosolic Zn using an in situ calibration of a genetically encoded FRET sensor.

Zinc (Zn) plays roles in structure, catalysis, and signaling. The majority of cellular Zn is bound by proteins, but a fraction of total Zn exists in a labile form. Here, we present a protocol for measuring labile cytosolic Zn using an in situ calibration of a genetically encoded Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) sensor.

Protocol for measuring cell cycle Zn dynamics using a FRET-based biosensor.

The exchangeable Zn pool in cells is not static but responds to perturbations as well as fluctuates naturally through the cell cycle. Here, we present a protocol to carry out long-term live-cell imaging of cells expressing a cytosolic Zn sensor. We then describe how to track cells using the published pipeline EllipTrack and how to analyze the single-cell traces to determine changes in labile Zn in response to perturbation.

Transient Zn deficiency induces replication stress and compromises daughter cell proliferation.

Cells must replicate their genome quickly and accurately, and they require metabolites and cofactors to do so. Ionic zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient that is required for hundreds of cellular processes, including DNA synthesis and adequate proliferation. Deficiency in this micronutrient impairs DNA synthesis and inhibits proliferation, but the mechanism is unknown.

Transient Zn deficiency induces replication stress and compromises daughter cell proliferation.

Cells must replicate their genome quickly and accurately, and they require metabolites and cofactors to do so. Ionic zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient that is required for hundreds of cellular processes, including DNA synthesis and adequate proliferation. Deficiency in this micronutrient impairs DNA synthesis and inhibits proliferation, but the mechanism is unknown.

Human cells experience a Zn pulse in early G1.

Zinc is an essential micronutrient required for all domains of life. Cells maintain zinc homeostasis using a network of transporters, buffers, and transcription factors. Zinc is required for mammalian cell proliferation, and zinc homeostasis is remodeled during the cell cycle, but whether labile zinc changes in naturally cycling cells has not been established.