1. Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Transcription factor clusters regulate genes in eukaryotic cells

  1. Adam JM Wollman
  2. Sviatlana Shashkova
  3. Erik G Hedlund
  4. Rosmarie Friemann
  5. Stefan Hohmann
  6. Mark C Leake  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of York, United Kingdom
  2. University of Gothenburg, Sweden
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27451
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  1. Adam JM Wollman
  2. Sviatlana Shashkova
  3. Erik G Hedlund
  4. Rosmarie Friemann
  5. Stefan Hohmann
  6. Mark C Leake
(2017)
Transcription factor clusters regulate genes in eukaryotic cells
eLife 6:e27451.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27451
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Abstract

Transcription is regulated through binding factors to gene promoters to activate or repress expression, however, the mechanisms by which factors find targets remain unclear. Using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, we determined in vivo stoichiometry and spatiotemporal dynamics of a GFP tagged repressor, Mig1, from a paradigm signaling pathway of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We find the repressor operates in clusters, which upon extracellular signal detection, translocate from the cytoplasm, bind to nuclear targets and turnover. Simulations of Mig1 configuration within a 3D yeast genome model combined with a promoter-specific, fluorescent translation reporter confirmed clusters are the functional unit of gene regulation. In vitro and structural analysis on reconstituted Mig1 suggests that clusters are stabilized by depletion forces between intrinsically disordered sequences. We observed similar clusters of a co-regulatory activator from a different pathway,  supporting a generalized cluster model for transcription factors that reduces promoter search times through intersegment transfer while stabilizing gene expression.

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Author details

  1. Adam JM Wollman

    Biological Physical Sciences Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Sviatlana Shashkova

    Biological Physical Sciences Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-4641-3295

  3. Erik G Hedlund

    Biological Physical Sciences Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. Rosmarie Friemann

    Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Stefan Hohmann

    Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  6. Mark C Leake

    Biological Physical Sciences Institute, University of York, York, United Kingdom
    For correspondence
    mark.leake@york.ac.uk
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1715-1249

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (grant BB/N006453/1)

  • Adam JM Wollman
  • Mark C Leake

Medical Research Council (MR/K01580X/1)

  • Mark C Leake

European Commission (289995)

  • Sviatlana Shashkova
  • Erik G Hedlund

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2017, Wollman et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Adam JM Wollman
  2. Sviatlana Shashkova
  3. Erik G Hedlund
  4. Rosmarie Friemann
  5. Stefan Hohmann
  6. Mark C Leake
(2017)
Transcription factor clusters regulate genes in eukaryotic cells
eLife 6:e27451.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27451

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.27451

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