Here we explored the mechanism of R-loop formation and DNA cleavage by type V CRISPR Cas12a (formerly known as Cpf1). We first used a single-molecule magnetic tweezers (MT) assay to show that R-loop formation by bacterium ND2006 Cas12a is significantly enhanced by negative DNA supercoiling, as observed previously with DGCC7710 CRISPR3 Cas9. Consistent with the MT data, the apparent rate of cleavage of supercoiled plasmid DNA was observed to be >50-fold faster than the apparent rates for linear DNA or nicked circular DNA because of topology-dependent differences in R-loop formation kinetics. Taking the differences into account, the cleavage data for all substrates can be fitted with the same apparent rate constants for the two strand-cleavage steps, with the first event >15-fold faster than the second. By independently following the ensemble cleavage of the non-target strand (NTS) and target strand (TS), we could show that the faster rate is due to NTS cleavage, the slower rate due to TS cleavage, as expected from previous studies.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6409811 | PMC |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/genes10020169 | DOI Listing |
Inflammation
January 2025
Department of Geriatrics, Respiratory Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410008, China.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent chronic inflammatory airway disease with high incidence and significant disease burden. R-loops, functional chromatin structure formed during transcription, are closely associated with inflammation due to its aberrant formation. However, the role of R-loop regulators (RLRs) in COPD remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell Rep
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; National Center for Neurological Disorders, Shanghai 200040, China; Shanghai Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Restoration and Neural Regeneration, Shanghai 200040, China; Neurosurgical Institute of Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China; Shanghai Clinical Medical Center of Neurosurgery, Shanghai 200040, China. Electronic address:
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a highly lethal malignant brain tumor with poor survival rates, and chemoresistance poses a significant challenge to the treatment of patients with GBM. Here, we show that transketolase (TKT), a metabolic enzyme in the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), attenuates the chemotherapy sensitivity of glioma cells in a manner independent of catalytic activity. Mechanistically, chemotherapeutic drugs can facilitate the translocation of TKT protein from the cytosol into the nucleus, where TKT physically interacts with XRN2 to regulate the resolution and removal of R-loops.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNat Struct Mol Biol
January 2025
Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.
Following transcript release during intrinsic termination, Escherichia coli RNA polymerase (RNAP) often remains associated with DNA in a post-termination complex (PTC). RNAPs in PTCs are removed from the DNA by the SWI2/SNF2 adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) RapA. Here we determined PTC structures on negatively supercoiled DNA and with RapA engaged to dislodge the PTC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNature
January 2025
Stanford Cancer Institute, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Breast cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease whose prognosis and treatment as defined by the expression of three receptors-oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2; encoded by ERBB2)-is insufficient to capture the full spectrum of clinical outcomes and therapeutic vulnerabilities. Previously, we demonstrated that transcriptional and genomic profiles define eleven integrative subtypes with distinct clinical outcomes, including four ER subtypes with increased risk of relapse decades after diagnosis. Here, to determine whether these subtypes reflect distinct evolutionary histories, interactions with the immune system and pathway dependencies, we established a meta-cohort of 1,828 breast tumours spanning pre-invasive, primary invasive and metastatic disease with whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
January 2025
Program in Genetics, Molecular, and Cellular Biology, Tufts University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Boston, MA 02111.
CAG/CTG repeats are prone to expansion, causing several inherited human diseases. The initiating sources of DNA damage which lead to inaccurate repair of the repeat tract to cause expansions are not fully understood. Expansion-prone CAG/CTG repeats are actively transcribed and prone to forming stable R-loops with hairpin structures forming on the displaced single-stranded DNA (S-loops).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!