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Motivation: Thanks to research spanning nearly 30 years, two major models have emerged that account for nucleosome organization in chromatin: statistical and sequence specific. The first is based on elegant, easy to compute, closed-form mathematical formulas that make no assumptions of the physical and chemical properties of the underlying DNA sequence. Moreover, they need no training on the data for their computation. The latter is based on some sequence regularities but, as opposed to the statistical model, it lacks the same type of closed-form formulas that, in this case, should be based on the DNA sequence only., Results: We contribute to close this important methodological gap between the two models by providing three very simple formulas for the sequence specific one. They are all based on well-known formulas in Computer Science and Bioinformatics, and they give different quantifications of how complex a sequence is. In view of how remarkably well they perform, it is very surprising that measures of sequence complexity have not even been considered as candidates to close the mentioned gap. We provide experimental evidence that the intrinsic level of combinatorial organization and information-theoretic content of subsequences within a genome are strongly correlated to the level of DNA encoded nucleosome organization discovered by Kaplan et al Our results establish an important connection between the intrinsic complexity of subsequences in a genome and the intrinsic, i.e. DNA encoded, nucleosome organization of eukaryotic genomes. It is a first step towards a mathematical characterization of this latter 'encoding'., Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online., Contact: futro@us.ibm.com., (© The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Histones and polyamines are important determinants of the chromatin structure. Histones form the core of nucleosome particles and their modification by acetylation of N-terminal tails is involved in chromatin structural changes and transcriptional regulation. Polyamines, including spermidine, are also targets of both cytoplasmic and nuclear acetylation, which in turn alters their affinity for DNA and nucleosomes. Previous studies report the interplay between polyamines metabolism and levels of histone acetylation, but the molecular basis of this effect is still unclear. In this work, we have analyzed the in vitro effect of spermidine on histone H3 acetylation catalyzed by P/CAF, a highly conserved histone acetyltransferase (HAT) (E.C. 2.3.1.48). We have observed that spermidine at very low concentrations activates P/CAF, while it has an inhibitory effect at concentrations higher than 4 μM. In addition, the in vitro bimodal effect of spermidine on histone H3 acetylation was also distinctly observed in vivo on polytene chromosomes of Drosophila melanogaster. We also performed kinetic studies indicating that the activating effect of low spermidine concentrations on P/CAF-HAT activity is based on its involvement as a substrate for P/CAF to produce N 8 -acetylspermidine that is able in turn to increase the enzyme activity up to four fold.

In order to study the role played by cellular RNA pools produced by homologous genomic loci in defining the transcriptional state of a silenced gene, we tested the effect of non-functional alleles of the white gene in the presence of a functional copy of white, silenced by heterochromatin. We found that non-functional alleles of white, unable to produce a coding transcript, could reactivate in trans the expression of a wild type copy of the same gene silenced by heterochromatin. This new epigenetic phenomenon of transcriptional trans-reactivation is heritable, relies on the presence of homologous RNA's and is affected by mutations in genes involved in post-transcriptional gene silencing. Our data suggest a general new unexpected level of gene expression control mediated by homologous RNA molecules in the context of heterochromatic genes.

The packaging of the eukaryotic genome into chromatin facilitates the storage of the genetic information within the nucleus, but prevents the access to the underlying DNA sequences. Structural changes in chromatin are mediated by several mechanisms. Among them, ATP-dependent remodelling complexes belonging to ISWI family provides one of the best examples that eukaryotic cells evolved to finely regulate these changes. ISWI-containing complexes use the energy derived from ATP hydrolysis to rearrange nucleosomes on chromatin in order to favour specific nuclear reactions. The combination of regulatory nuclear factors associated with the ATPase subunit as well as its modulation by specific histone modifications, specializes the nuclear function of each ISWI-containing complex. Here we review the different ways by which ISWI enzymatic activity can be modulated and regulated in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant myopathy with a strong epigenetic component. It is associated with deletion of a macrosatellite repeat leading to over-expression of the nearby genes. Among them, we focused on FSHD region gene 1 (FRG1) since its over-expression in mice, Xenopus laevis and Caenorhabditis elegans, leads to muscular dystrophy-like defects, suggesting that FRG1 plays a relevant role in muscle biology. Here we show that, when over-expressed, FRG1 binds and interferes with the activity of the histone methyltransferase Suv4-20h1 both in mammals and Drosophila. Accordingly, FRG1 over-expression or Suv4-20h1 knockdown inhibits myogenesis. Moreover, Suv4-20h KO mice develop muscular dystrophy signs. Finally, we identify the FRG1/Suv4-20h1 target Eid3 as a novel myogenic inhibitor that contributes to the muscle differentiation defects. Our study suggests a novel role of FRG1 as epigenetic regulator of muscle differentiation and indicates that Suv4-20h1 has a gene-specific function in myogenesis.

Background: In a previous work we showed for the first time that human tumor cells secrete Hsp60 via exosomes, which are considered immunologically active microvesicles involved in tumor progression. This finding raised questions concerning the route followed by Hsp60 to reach the exosomes, its location in them, and whether Hsp60 can be secreted also via other mechanisms, e.g., by the Golgi. We addressed these issues in the work presented here., Principal Findings: We found that Hsp60 localizes in the tumor cell plasma membrane, is associated with lipid rafts, and ends up in the exosomal membrane. We also found evidence that Hsp60 localizes in the Golgi apparatus and its secretion is prevented by an inhibitor of this organelle., Conclusions/significance: We propose a multistage process for the translocation of Hsp60 from the inside to the outside of the cell that includes a combination of protein traffic pathways and, ultimately, presence of the chaperonin in the circulating blood. The new information presented should help in designing future strategies for research and for developing diagnostic-monitoring means useful in clinical oncology.

RNA interference (RNAi) pathways have evolved as important modulators of gene expression that operate in the cytoplasm by degrading RNA target molecules through the activity of short (21-30 nucleotide) RNAs. RNAi components have been reported to have a role in the nucleus, as they are involved in epigenetic regulation and heterochromatin formation. However, although RNAi-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing is well documented, the mechanisms of RNAi-mediated transcriptional gene silencing and, in particular, the role of RNAi components in chromatin dynamics, especially in animal multicellular organisms, are elusive. Here we show that the key RNAi components Dicer 2 (DCR2) and Argonaute 2 (AGO2) associate with chromatin (with a strong preference for euchromatic, transcriptionally active, loci) and interact with the core transcription machinery. Notably, loss of function of DCR2 or AGO2 showed that transcriptional defects are accompanied by the perturbation of RNA polymerase II positioning on promoters. Furthermore, after heat shock, both Dcr2 and Ago2 null mutations, as well as missense mutations that compromise the RNAi activity, impaired the global dynamics of RNA polymerase II. Finally, the deep sequencing of the AGO2-associated small RNAs (AGO2 RIP-seq) revealed that AGO2 is strongly enriched in small RNAs that encompass the promoter regions and other regions of heat-shock and other genetic loci on both the sense and antisense DNA strands, but with a strong bias for the antisense strand, particularly after heat shock. Taken together, our results show that DCR2 and AGO2 are globally associated with transcriptionally active loci and may have a pivotal role in shaping the transcriptome by controlling the processivity of RNA polymerase II.

Telomeres are specialized structures at the end of eukaryotic chromosomes that are required to preserve genome integrity, chromosome stability and nuclear architecture. Telomere maintenance and function are established epigenetically in several eukaryotes. However, the exact chromatin enzymatic modifications regulating telomere homeostasis are poorly understood. In Drosophila melanogaster, telomere length and stability are maintained through the retrotransposition of specialized telomeric sequences and by the specific loading of protecting capping proteins, respectively. Here, we show that the loss of the essential and evolutionarily conserved histone deacetylase Rpd3, the homolog of mammalian HDAC1, causes aberrant telomeric fusions on polytene chromosome ends. Remarkably, these telomere fusion defects are associated with a marked decrease of histone H4 acetylation, as well as an accumulation of heterochromatic epigenetic marks at telomeres, including histone H3K9 trimethylation and the heterochromatic protein HP2. Our work suggests that Drosophila telomere structure is epigenetically regulated by the histone deacetylase Rpd3.

The evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelling factor ISWI can space nucleosomes affecting a variety of nuclear processes. In Drosophila, loss of ISWI leads to global transcriptional defects and to dramatic alterations in higher-order chromatin structure, especially on the male X chromosome. In order to understand if chromatin condensation and gene expression defects, observed in ISWI mutants, are directly correlated with ISWI nucleosome spacing activity, we conducted a genome-wide survey of ISWI binding and nucleosome positioning in wild-type and ISWI mutant chromatin. Our analysis revealed that ISWI binds both genic and intergenic regions. Remarkably, we found that ISWI binds genes near their promoters causing specific alterations in nucleosome positioning at the level of the Transcription Start Site, providing an important insights in understanding ISWI role in higher eukaryote transcriptional regulation. Interestingly, differences in nucleosome spacing, between wild-type and ISWI mutant chromatin, tend to accumulate on the X chromosome for all ISWI-bound genes analysed. Our study shows how in higher eukaryotes the activity of the evolutionarily conserved nucleosome remodelling factor ISWI regulates gene expression and chromosome organization genome-wide.

The complexity in composition and function of the eukaryotic nucleus is achieved through its organization in specialized nuclear compartments. The Drosophila chromatin remodeling ATPase ISWI plays evolutionarily conserved roles in chromatin organization. Interestingly, ISWI genetically interacts with the hsrω gene, encoding multiple non-coding RNAs (ncRNA) essential, among other functions, for the assembly and organization of the omega speckles. The nucleoplasmic omega speckles play important functions in RNA metabolism, in normal and stressed cells, by regulating availability of hnRNPs and some other RNA processing proteins. Chromatin remodelers, as well as nuclear speckles and their associated ncRNAs, are emerging as important components of gene regulatory networks, although their functional connections have remained poorly defined. Here we provide multiple lines of evidence showing that the hsrω ncRNA interacts in vivo and in vitro with ISWI, regulating its ATPase activity. Remarkably, we found that the organization of nucleoplasmic omega speckles depends on ISWI function. Our findings highlight a novel role for chromatin remodelers in organization of nucleoplasmic compartments, providing the first example of interaction between an ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler and a large ncRNA., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Poly ADP-ribosylation (PARylation) is a posttranslational protein modification catalyzed by poly -ADP-ribose polymerases (PARPs). Poly ADP-ribose metabolism is involved in a wide range of biological processes, such as maintenance of genome stability, transcriptional regulation, energy metabolism, and programed cell death. Recently, chromatin components, including histones, have been shown to be targets of PARylation. Unlike mammals, which have several PARP-encoded genes, the model organism Drosophila melanogaster has only one PARP gene, highly related to mammalian PARP1. These features make flies a great model system to study PARP biology. Commercially available antibodies recognizing this covalent modification have made possible the development of immunofluorescence approaches to study PARylation of chromatin components. Here, we present a protocol to immunostain polytene chromosomes of the model system D. melanogaster.

Dynamic regulation of histone modifications is critical during development, and aberrant activity of chromatin-modifying enzymes has been associated with diseases such as cancer. Histone demethylases have been shown to play a key role in eukaryotic gene transcription; however, little is known about how their activities are coordinated in vivo to regulate specific biological processes. In Drosophila, two enzymes, dLsd1 (Drosophila ortholog of lysine-specific demethylase 1) and Lid (little imaginal discs), demethylate histone H3 at Lys 4 (H3K4), a residue whose methylation is associated with actively transcribed genes. Our studies show that compound mutation of Lid and dLsd1 results in increased H3K4 methylation levels. However, unexpectedly, Lid mutations strongly suppress dLsd1 mutant phenotypes. Investigation of the basis for this antagonism revealed that Lid opposes the functions of dLsd1 and the histone methyltransferase Su(var)3-9 in promoting heterochromatin spreading at heterochromatin-euchromatin boundaries. Moreover, our data reveal a novel role for dLsd1 in Notch signaling in Drosophila, and a complex network of interactions between dLsd1, Lid, and Notch signaling at euchromatic genes. These findings illustrate the complexity of functional interplay between histone demethylases in vivo, providing insights into the epigenetic regulation of heterochromatin/euchromatin boundaries by Lid and dLsd1 and showing their involvement in Notch pathway-specific control of gene expression in euchromatin.

The eukaryotic genome is a highly organized nucleoprotein structure comprising of DNA, histones, non-histone proteins, and RNAs, referred to as chromatin. The chromatin exists as a dynamic entity, shuttling between the open and closed forms at specific nuclear regions and loci based on the requirement of the cell. This dynamicity is essential for the various DNA-templated phenomena like transcription, replication, and repair and is achieved through the activity of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes and covalent modifiers of chromatin. A growing body of data indicates that chromatin enzymatic activities are finely and specifically regulated by a variety of small molecules derived from the intermediary metabolism. This review tries to summarize the work conducted in many laboratories and on different model organisms showing how ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling complexes are regulated by small molecules and metabolites such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP), acetyl coenzyme A (AcCoA), S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), and inositol polyphosphates (IPs)., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

ISWI is an evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factor playing central roles in DNA replication, RNA transcription, and chromosome organization. The variety of biological functions dependent on ISWI suggests that its activity could be highly regulated. Our group has previously isolated and characterized new cellular activities that positively regulate ISWI in Drosophila melanogaster. To identify factors that antagonize ISWI activity we developed a novel in vivo eye-based assay to screen for genetic suppressors of ISWI. Our screen revealed that ISWI interacts with an evolutionarily conserved network of cellular and nuclear factors that escaped previous genetic and biochemical analyses.

Background: Hsp60, a Group I mitochondrial chaperonin, is classically considered an intracellular chaperone with residence in the mitochondria; nonetheless, in the last few years it has been found extracellularly as well as in the cell membrane. Important questions remain pertaining to extracellular Hsp60 such as how generalized is its occurrence outside cells, what are its extracellular functions and the translocation mechanisms that transport the chaperone outside of the cell. These questions are particularly relevant for cancer biology since it is believed that extracellular chaperones, like Hsp70, may play an active role in tumor growth and dissemination., Methodology/principal Findings: Since cancer cells may undergo necrosis and apoptosis, it could be possible that extracellular Hsps are chiefly the result of cell destruction but not the product of an active, physiological process. In this work, we studied three tumor cells lines and found that they all release Hsp60 into the culture media by an active mechanism independently of cell death. Biochemical analyses of one of the cell lines revealed that Hsp60 secretion was significantly reduced, by inhibitors of exosomes and lipid rafts., Conclusions/significance: Our data suggest that Hsp60 release is the result of an active secretion mechanism and, since extracellular release of the chaperone was demonstrated in all tumor cell lines investigated, our observations most likely reflect a general physiological phenomenon, occurring in many tumors.

Histone acetylation plays essential roles in cell cycle progression, DNA repair, gene expression and silencing. Although the knowledge regarding the roles of acetylation of histone lysine residues is rapidly growing, very little is known about the biochemical pathways providing the nucleus with metabolites necessary for physiological chromatin acetylation. Here, we show that mutations in the scheggia (sea)-encoded Sea protein, the Drosophila ortholog of the human mitochondrial citrate carrier Solute carrier 25 A1 (SLC25A1), impair citrate transport from mitochondria to the cytosol. Interestingly, inhibition of sea expression results in extensive chromosome breakage in mitotic cells and induces an ATR-dependent cell cycle arrest associated with a dramatic reduction of global histone acetylation. Notably, loss of SLC25A1 in short interfering RNA (siRNA)-treated human primary fibroblasts also leads to chromosome breaks and histone acetylation defects, suggesting an evolutionary conserved role for Sea/SLC25A1 in the regulation of chromosome integrity. This study therefore provides an intriguing and unexpected link between intermediary metabolism and epigenetic control of genome stability.

The basic unit of eukaryotic chromatin is the nucleosome, consisting of about 150 bp of DNA wrapped around a protein core made of histone proteins. Nucleosomes position is modulated in vivo to regulate fundamental nuclear processes. To measure nucleosome positions on a genomic scale both theoretical and experimental approaches have been recently reported. We have developed a new method, Multi-Layer Model (MLM), for the analysis of nucleosome position data obtained with microarray-based approach. The MLM is a feature extraction method in which the input data is processed by a classifier to distinguish between several kinds of patterns. We applied our method to simulated-synthetic and experimental nucleosome position data and found that besides a high nucleosome recognition and a strong agreement with standard statistical methods, the MLM can identify distinct classes of nucleosomes, making it an important tool for the genome wide analysis of nucleosome position and function. In conclusion, the MLM allows a better representation of nucleosome position data and a significant reduction in computational time.

ATP-dependent nucleosome-remodeling enzymes and covalent modifiers of chromatin set the functional state of chromatin. However, how these enzymatic activities are coordinated in the nucleus is largely unknown. We found that the evolutionary conserved nucleosome-remodeling ATPase ISWI and the poly-ADP-ribose polymerase PARP genetically interact. We present evidence showing that ISWI is target of poly-ADP-ribosylation. Poly-ADP-ribosylation counteracts ISWI function in vitro and in vivo. Our work suggests that ISWI is a physiological target of PARP and that poly-ADP-ribosylation can be a new, important post-translational modification regulating the activity of ATP-dependent nucleosome remodelers.

Nucleosome remodeling and covalent modifications of histones play fundamental roles in chromatin structure and function. However, much remains to be learned about how the action of ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling factors and histone-modifying enzymes is coordinated to modulate chromatin organization and transcription. The evolutionarily conserved ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factor ISWI plays essential roles in chromosome organization, DNA replication, and transcription regulation. To gain insight into regulation and mechanism of action of ISWI, we conducted an unbiased genetic screen to identify factors with which it interacts in vivo. We found that ISWI interacts with a network of factors that escaped detection in previous biochemical analyses, including the Sin3A gene. The Sin3A protein and the histone deacetylase Rpd3 are part of a conserved histone deacetylase complex involved in transcriptional repression. ISWI and the Sin3A/Rpd3 complex co-localize at specific chromosome domains. Loss of ISWI activity causes a reduction in the binding of the Sin3A/Rpd3 complex to chromatin. Biochemical analysis showed that the ISWI physically interacts with the histone deacetylase activity of the Sin3A/Rpd3 complex. Consistent with these findings, the acetylation of histone H4 is altered when ISWI activity is perturbed in vivo. These findings suggest that ISWI associates with the Sin3A/Rpd3 complex to support its function in vivo., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Imitation SWI (ISWI) and other ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling factors play key roles in transcription and other processes by altering the structure and positioning of nucleosomes. Recent studies have also implicated ISWI in the regulation of higher-order chromatin structure, but its role in this process remains poorly understood. To clarify the role of ISWI in vivo, we examined defects in chromosome structure and gene expression resulting from the loss of Iswi function in Drosophila. Consistent with a broad role in transcriptional regulation, the expression of a large number of genes is altered in Iswi mutant larvae. The expression of a dominant-negative form of ISWI leads to dramatic alterations in higher-order chromatin structure, including the apparent decondensation of both mitotic and polytene chromosomes. The loss of ISWI function does not cause obvious defects in nucleosome assembly, but results in a significant reduction in the level of histone H1 associated with chromatin in vivo. These findings suggest that ISWI plays a global role in chromatin compaction in vivo by promoting the association of the linker histone H1 with chromatin.

The developing Drosophila eye-antennal disc is a particularly suited system for the genetic and cellular studies of complex biological processes. Methods to analyze Drosophila eye discs by flow cytometry are mainly based on the dissociation of tissues with trypsin. Dissociation operated by trypsin is very effective, though it causes a lot of stress to live cells often compromising the use of treated cells for further analyses. Here, we report a method to produce dissociated eye-disc cells that retain cell-membrane markers and that can be used for flow cytometry and cytological analysis of mitotic chromosomes. The method described is a great complementing tool for the cellular characterization of phenotypes resulting from classic clonal and miss-expression approaches in the Drosophila eye.

ISWI functions as the ATPase subunit of multiple chromatin-remodeling complexes. These complexes use the energy of ATP hydrolysis to slide nucleosomes and increase chromatin fluidity, thereby modulating the access of transcription factors and other regulatory proteins to DNA. Here we discuss recent progress toward understanding the biological functions of ISWI, with an emphasis on its roles in transcription, chromosome organization and DNA replication.

Energy-dependent nucleosome remodeling emerges as a key process endowing chromatin with dynamic properties. However, the principles by which remodeling ATPases interact with their nucleosome substrate to alter histone-DNA interactions are only poorly understood. We have identified a substrate recognition domain in the C-terminal half of the remodeling ATPase ISWI and determined its structure by X-ray crystallography. The structure comprises three domains, a four-helix domain with a novel fold and two alpha-helical domains related to the modules of c-Myb, SANT and SLIDE, which are linked by a long helix. An integrated structural and functional analysis of these domains provides insight into how ISWI interacts with the nucleosomal substrate.

Mutations in Drosophila ISWI, a member of the SWI2/SNF2 family of chromatin remodeling ATPases, alter the global architecture of the male X chromosome. The transcription of genes on this chromosome is increased 2-fold relative to females due to dosage compensation, a process involving the acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 16 (H4K16). Here we show that blocking H4K16 acetylation suppresses the X chromosome defects resulting from loss of ISWI function in males. In contrast, the forced acetylation of H4K16 in ISWI mutant females causes X chromosome defects indistinguishable from those seen in ISWI mutant males. Increased expression of MOF, the histone acetyltransferase that acetylates H4K16, strongly enhances phenotypes resulting from the partial loss of ISWI function. Peptide competition assays revealed that H4K16 acetylation reduces the ability of ISWI to interact productively with its substrate. These findings suggest that H4K16 acetylation directly counteracts chromatin compaction mediated by the ISWI ATPase.

The ATPase ISWI can be considered the catalytic core of several multiprotein nucleosome remodeling machines. Alone or in the context of nucleosome remodeling factor, the chromatin accessibility complex (CHRAC), or ACF, ISWI catalyzes a number of ATP-dependent transitions of chromatin structure that are currently best explained by its ability to induce nucleosome sliding. In addition, ISWI can function as a nucleosome spacing factor during chromatin assembly, where it will trigger the ordering of newly assembled nucleosomes into regular arrays. Both nucleosome remodeling and nucleosome spacing reactions are mechanistically unexplained. As a step toward defining the interaction of ISWI with its substrate during nucleosome remodeling and chromatin assembly we generated a set of nucleosomes lacking individual histone N termini from recombinant histones. We found the conserved N termini (the N-terminal tails) of histone H4 essential to stimulate ISWI ATPase activity, in contrast to other histone tails. Remarkably, the H4 N terminus, but none of the other tails, was critical for CHRAC-induced nucleosome sliding and for the generation of regularity in nucleosomal arrays by ISWI. Direct nucleosome binding studies did not reflect a dependence on the H4 tail for ISWI-nucleosome interactions. We conclude that the H4 tail is critically required for nucleosome remodeling and spacing at a step subsequent to interaction with the substrate.

Chromatin remodelling complexes containing the nucleosome-dependent ATPase ISWI were first isolated from Drosophila embryos (NURF, CHRAC and ACF). ISWI was the only common component reported in these complexes. Our purification of human CHRAC (HuCHRAC) shows that ISWI chromatin remodelling complexes can have a conserved subunit composition in completely different cell types, suggesting a conserved function of ISWI. We show that the human homologues of two novel putative histone-fold proteins in Drosophila CHRAC are present in HuCHRAC. The two human histone-fold proteins form a stable complex that binds naked DNA but not nucleosomes. HuCHRAC also contains human ACF1 (hACF1), the homologue of Acf1, a subunit of Drosophila ACF. The N-terminus of mouse ACF1 was reported as a heterochromatin-targeting domain. hACF1 is a member of a family of proteins with a related domain structure that all may target heterochromatin. We discuss a possible function for HuCHRAC in heterochromatin dynamics. HuCHRAC does not contain topoisomerase II, which was reported earlier as a subunit of Drosophila CHRAC.

The ISWI ATPase of Drosophila is a molecular engine that can drive a range of nucleosome remodelling reactions in vitro. ISWI is important for cell viability, developmental gene expression and chromosome structure. It interacts with other proteins to form several distinct nucleosome remodelling machines. The chromatin accessibility complex (CHRAC) is a biochemical entity containing ISWI in association with several other proteins. Here we report on the identification of the two smallest CHRAC subunits, CHRAC-14 and CHRAC-16. They contain histone fold domains most closely related to those found in sequence-specific transcription factors NF-YB and NF-YC, respectively. CHRAC-14 and CHRAC-16 interact directly with each other as well as with ISWI, and are associated with functionally active CHRAC. The developmental expression profiles of both subunits suggest specialized roles in chromatin remodelling reactions in the early embryo for both histone fold subunits.

Translational repression of male-specific-lethal 2 (msl-2) mRNA by Sex-lethal (SXL) controls dosage compensation in Drosophila. In vivo regulation involves cooperativity between SXL-binding sites in the 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs). To investigate the mechanism of msl-2 translational control, we have developed a novel cell-free translation system from Drosophila embryos that recapitulates the critical features of mRNA translation in eukaryotes: cap and poly(A) tail dependence. Importantly, tight regulation of msl-2 translation in this system requires cooperation between the SXL-binding sites in both the 5' and 3' UTRs, as seen in vivo. However, in contrast to numerous other developmentally regulated mRNAs, the regulation of msl-2 mRNA occurs by a poly(A) tail-independent mechanism. The approach described here allows mechanistic analysis of translational control in early Drosophila development and has revealed insights into the regulation of dosage compensation by SXL.

In contrast to its behavior as naked DNA, the MMTV promoter assembled in minichromosomes can be activated synergistically by the progesterone receptor and NF1 in a process involving ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling. The DNA-binding domain of NF1 is required and sufficient for stable occupancy of all receptor-binding sites and for functional synergism. Activation of purified minichromosomes is observed in the absence of SWI/SNF and can be enhanced by recombinant ISWI. Receptor binding to minichromosomes recruits ISWI and NURF38, but not brahma. We propose a two-step synergism in which the receptor triggers a chromatin remodeling event that facilitates access of NF1, which in turn stabilizes an open nucleosomal conformation required for efficient binding of further receptor molecules and full transactivation.

The chromatin accessibility complex (CHRAC) belongs to the class of nucleosome remodeling factors that increase the accessibility of nucleosomal DNA in an ATP-dependent manner. We found that CHRAC induces movements of intact histone octamers to neighboring DNA segments without facilitating their displacement to competing DNA or histone chaperones in trans. CHRAC-induced energy-dependent nucleosome sliding may, in principle, explain nucleosome remodeling, nucleosome positioning, and nucleosome spacing reactions known to be catalyzed by CHRAC. The catalytic core of CHRAC, the ATPase ISWI, also mobilized nucleosomes at the expense of energy. However, the directionality of the CHRAC- and ISWI-induced nucleosome movements differed drastically, indicating that the geometry of the native complex modulates the activity of its catalytic core.

The ATPase ISWI is a subunit of several distinct nucleosome remodeling complexes that increase the accessibility of DNA in chromatin. We found that the isolated ISWI protein itself was able to carry out nucleosome remodeling, nucleosome rearrangement, and chromatin assembly reactions. The ATPase activity of ISWI was stimulated by nucleosomes but not by free DNA or free histones, indicating that ISWI recognizes a specific structural feature of nucleosomes. Nucleosome remodeling, therefore, does not require a functional interaction between ISWI and the other subunits of ISWI complexes. The role of proteins associated with ISWI may be to regulate the activity of the remodeling engine or to define the physiological context within which a nucleosome remodeling reaction occurs.

The human TRIP-1 (transforming growth factor-beta (TGBbeta)-receptor interacting protein-1) cDNA encodes a protein able to associate specifically with the type II TGFbeta receptor. It is phosphorylated on serine and threonine by this receptor kinase which makes it a strong candidate as part of the TGFbeta signal transduction pathway. We have isolated the genomic sequence of TRIP-1 and found that the complete coding region is organised into 11 exons ranging from 39 to 397 bp and spanning approximately 9 kb of genomic DNA. The 5' flanking region lacks a TATA box but is GC-rich, suggesting that it is a constitutively expressed gene which is in agreement with its wide pattern of expression. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation mapped the TRIP-1 gene to chromosome 1p34.1 whereas a pseudogene is located on chromosome 7q32.

In this descriptive-exploratory study, we sought to describe and compare the similarities and differences between Filipino and Mexican-American primigravidas in social support networks, type of support received, and expectations regarding care from health care providers. Convenience sampling was used, and face-to-face interviews using the Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (Norbeck, Lindsey, & Carrieri, 1983) were conducted in Filipino and Spanish by trained data collectors. The profiles obtained for both groups were similar in sociodemographic characteristics; possession of an adequate social support network, predominantly composed of the spouse and family members; and expectations of more personalized care and decreased waiting time than transpired. The groups differed slightly with regard to ability to discuss pregnancy with persons reported in the network. Overall findings reflect the central role of the family as a source of support during pregnancy. Recommendations are made to conduct research addressing populations of varied ethnic groups and with different educational backgrounds, populations of single and teenage pregnant women, and spousal support.