GSE145378 Uncovering the first heterochromatin boundary element in the locus encoding the master regulator for sexual commitment in Plasmodium falciparum

Contributors : Carlos Cordon-Obras ; Anna Barcons-Simon ; Christine Scheidig-Benatar ; Aurelie Cla ës ; Florent Dingli ; Damarys Loew ; Artur ScherfSeries Type : Genome binding/occupancy profiling by high throughput sequencingOrganism : Plasmodium falciparumHeterochromatin is essential in all eukaryotic systems to maintain genome integrity, long-term gene repression and to help chromosome segregation during mitosis. However, heterochromatin regions must be isolated to avoid its spreading over actively transcribed loci. Such function is accomplished by chromatin boundaries, DNA elements that block heterochromatin self-propagation. In Plasmodium falciparum, facultative heterochromatin is important to regulate parasite virulence, antigenic variation and transmission, but the underlying molecular mechanisms that confine these repressive regions remain unknown. To address this topic, we used as model the single copy gene ap2-g, a master regulator of sexual commitment. In this gene, Heterochromatin Protein 1 (HP1) accumulation is mainly restricted to the ORF and 5 ’ UTR, and sharply drops in the 3’ end. Using electrophoretic motility shift assay (EMSA) and liquid-chromatography mass-spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) we identified potential interacting proteins involved in barrier function in the 3’ end of ap2-g gene. Upon replacement of this region by gfp gene, w e found a shift in the heterochromatin boundary, allowing HP1 to spread over ~2 additional kb downstream. Our resu...
Source: GEO: Gene Expression Omnibus - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Tags: Genome binding/occupancy profiling by high throughput sequencing Plasmodium falciparum Source Type: research