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McShane E, Couvillion M, Ietswaart R, Prakash G, Smalec BM, Soto I, Baxter-Koenigs AR, Choquet K, Churchman LS. A kinetic dichotomy between mitochondrial and nuclear gene expression processes. Mol Cell 2024; 84:1541-1555.e11. [PMID: 38503286 DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2023] [Revised: 12/12/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024]
Abstract
Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes, encoded by both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, are essential producers of cellular ATP, but how nuclear and mitochondrial gene expression steps are coordinated to achieve balanced OXPHOS subunit biogenesis remains unresolved. Here, we present a parallel quantitative analysis of the human nuclear and mitochondrial messenger RNA (mt-mRNA) life cycles, including transcript production, processing, ribosome association, and degradation. The kinetic rates of nearly every stage of gene expression differed starkly across compartments. Compared with nuclear mRNAs, mt-mRNAs were produced 1,100-fold more, degraded 7-fold faster, and accumulated to 160-fold higher levels. Quantitative modeling and depletion of mitochondrial factors LRPPRC and FASTKD5 identified critical points of mitochondrial regulatory control, revealing that the mitonuclear expression disparities intrinsically arise from the highly polycistronic nature of human mitochondrial pre-mRNA. We propose that resolving these differences requires a 100-fold slower mitochondrial translation rate, illuminating the mitoribosome as a nexus of mitonuclear co-regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik McShane
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Mary Couvillion
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Robert Ietswaart
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Gyan Prakash
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Brendan M Smalec
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Iliana Soto
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Autum R Baxter-Koenigs
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Karine Choquet
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - L Stirling Churchman
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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2
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Isaac RS, Tullius TW, Hansen KG, Dubocanin D, Couvillion M, Stergachis AB, Churchman LS. Single-nucleoid architecture reveals heterogeneous packaging of mitochondrial DNA. Nat Struct Mol Biol 2024; 31:568-577. [PMID: 38347148 DOI: 10.1038/s41594-024-01225-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/03/2024]
Abstract
Cellular metabolism relies on the regulation and maintenance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Hundreds to thousands of copies of mtDNA exist in each cell, yet because mitochondria lack histones or other machinery important for nuclear genome compaction, it remains unresolved how mtDNA is packaged into individual nucleoids. In this study, we used long-read single-molecule accessibility mapping to measure the compaction of individual full-length mtDNA molecules at near single-nucleotide resolution. We found that, unlike the nuclear genome, human mtDNA largely undergoes all-or-none global compaction, with most nucleoids existing in an inaccessible, inactive state. Highly accessible mitochondrial nucleoids are co-occupied by transcription and replication components and selectively form a triple-stranded displacement loop structure. In addition, we showed that the primary nucleoid-associated protein TFAM directly modulates the fraction of inaccessible nucleoids both in vivo and in vitro, acting consistently with a nucleation-and-spreading mechanism to coat and compact mitochondrial nucleoids. Together, these findings reveal the primary architecture of mtDNA packaging and regulation in human cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Stefan Isaac
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas W Tullius
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Katja G Hansen
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Danilo Dubocanin
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Mary Couvillion
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrew B Stergachis
- Division of Medical Genetics, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
- Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - L Stirling Churchman
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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McShane E, Couvillion M, Ietswaart R, Prakash G, Smalec BM, Soto I, Baxter-Koenigs AR, Choquet K, Churchman LS. A kinetic dichotomy between mitochondrial and nuclear gene expression drives OXPHOS biogenesis. bioRxiv 2023:2023.02.09.527880. [PMID: 36824735 PMCID: PMC9948965 DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.09.527880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/12/2023]
Abstract
Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes, encoded by both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, are essential producers of cellular ATP, but how nuclear and mitochondrial gene expression steps are coordinated to achieve balanced OXPHOS biogenesis remains unresolved. Here, we present a parallel quantitative analysis of the human nuclear and mitochondrial messenger RNA (mt-mRNA) life cycles, including transcript production, processing, ribosome association, and degradation. The kinetic rates of nearly every stage of gene expression differed starkly across compartments. Compared to nuclear mRNAs, mt-mRNAs were produced 700-fold higher, degraded 5-fold faster, and accumulated to 170-fold higher levels. Quantitative modeling and depletion of mitochondrial factors, LRPPRC and FASTKD5, identified critical points of mitochondrial regulatory control, revealing that the mitonuclear expression disparities intrinsically arise from the highly polycistronic nature of human mitochondrial pre-mRNA. We propose that resolving these differences requires a 100-fold slower mitochondrial translation rate, illuminating the mitoribosome as a nexus of mitonuclear co-regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik McShane
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Mary Couvillion
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Robert Ietswaart
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Gyan Prakash
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Brendan M. Smalec
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Iliana Soto
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Karine Choquet
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Current affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Functional Genomics, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
| | - L. Stirling Churchman
- Department of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Soto I, Couvillion M, Stirling Churchman L. Human Mitoribosome Profiling: A Re-engineered Approach Tailored to Study Mitochondrial Translation. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2661:257-280. [PMID: 37166642 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3171-3_15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
To understand the human mitochondrial translation process, tools are required to dissect this system at a global scale. The mechanisms and regulation of translation in mitochondria are different from those in the cytosol, and mitochondrial ribosomes have distinct biochemical properties. In this chapter, we describe in detail the modifications we have made to the ribosome profiling approach to adapt it to the unique characteristics of the human mitochondrial ribosome. This approach maximizes the fraction of mitochondrial ribosomes recovered, providing a snapshot of the mitochondrial translation landscape with minimal bias. We also describe the use of mouse lysate as an internal spike-in control for normalization, allowing quantification of global changes in translation across samples. Finally, we outline the bioinformatic pipelines to process the raw reads and identify mitoribosome A sites in the absence of untranslated regions flanking open reading frames. This method offers a subcodon-resolution time-sensitive global approach to explore the mitochondrial translation process in human cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iliana Soto
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Mary Couvillion
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Soto I, Couvillion M, Hansen KG, McShane E, Moran JC, Barrientos A, Churchman LS. Balanced mitochondrial and cytosolic translatomes underlie the biogenesis of human respiratory complexes. Genome Biol 2022; 23:170. [PMID: 35945592 PMCID: PMC9361522 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02732-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexes consist of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA-encoded subunits. Their biogenesis requires cross-compartment gene regulation to mitigate the accumulation of disproportionate subunits. To determine how human cells coordinate mitochondrial and nuclear gene expression processes, we tailored ribosome profiling for the unique features of the human mitoribosome. RESULTS We resolve features of mitochondrial translation initiation and identify a small ORF in the 3' UTR of MT-ND5. Analysis of ribosome footprints in five cell types reveals that average mitochondrial synthesis levels correspond precisely to cytosolic levels across OXPHOS complexes, and these average rates reflect the relative abundances of the complexes. Balanced mitochondrial and cytosolic synthesis does not rely on rapid feedback between the two translation systems, and imbalance caused by mitochondrial translation deficiency is associated with the induction of proteotoxicity pathways. CONCLUSIONS Based on our findings, we propose that human OXPHOS complexes are synthesized proportionally to each other, with mitonuclear balance relying on the regulation of OXPHOS subunit translation across cellular compartments, which may represent a proteostasis vulnerability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iliana Soto
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Mary Couvillion
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Katja G Hansen
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Erik McShane
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - J Conor Moran
- Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA
| | - Antoni Barrientos
- Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, 33136, USA
| | - L Stirling Churchman
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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Couvillion M, Harlen KM, Lachance KC, Trotta KL, Smith E, Brion C, Smalec BM, Churchman LS. Transcription elongation is finely tuned by dozens of regulatory factors. eLife 2022; 11:e78944. [PMID: 35575476 PMCID: PMC9154744 DOI: 10.7554/elife.78944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the complex network that regulates transcription elongation requires the quantitative analysis of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) activity in a wide variety of regulatory environments. We performed native elongating transcript sequencing (NET-seq) in 41 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae lacking known elongation regulators, including RNA processing factors, transcription elongation factors, chromatin modifiers, and remodelers. We found that the opposing effects of these factors balance transcription elongation and antisense transcription. Different sets of factors tightly regulate Pol II progression across gene bodies so that Pol II density peaks at key points of RNA processing. These regulators control where Pol II pauses with each obscuring large numbers of potential pause sites that are primarily determined by DNA sequence and shape. Antisense transcription varies highly across the regulatory landscapes analyzed, but antisense transcription in itself does not affect sense transcription at the same locus. Our findings collectively show that a diverse array of factors regulate transcription elongation by precisely balancing Pol II activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary Couvillion
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Kevin M Harlen
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Kate C Lachance
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Kristine L Trotta
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Erin Smith
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Christian Brion
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - Brendan M Smalec
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
| | - L Stirling Churchman
- Blavatnik Institute, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical SchoolBostonUnited States
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Couvillion M, Shipkovenska G, Tye B, Churchman LS. Mitochondrial Ribosome Profiling Reveals Rapid and Dynamic Translation Regulation During Yeast Mitochondrial Biogenesis. FASEB J 2015. [DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.565.3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Blake Tye
- GeneticsHarvard Medical SchoolBostonMAUnited States
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Vespa L, Couvillion M, Spangler E, Shippen DE. ATM and ATR make distinct contributions to chromosome end protection and the maintenance of telomeric DNA in Arabidopsis. Genes Dev 2005; 19:2111-5. [PMID: 16166376 PMCID: PMC1221882 DOI: 10.1101/gad.1333805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Here we examine the function of ATM and ATR at telomeres in Arabidopsis. Although plants lacking ATM or ATR display wild-type telomere length homeostasis, chromosome end protection is compromised in atm atr mutants. Moreover, atm tert Arabidopsis experience an abrupt, early onset of genome instability, arguing that ATM is required for protection of short telomeres. ATR, by contrast, is required for maintenance of telomeric DNA as telomere shortening is dramatically accelerated in atr tert mutants relative to tert plants. Thus, ATM and ATR make essential and distinct contributions to chromosome end protection and telomere maintenance in higher eukaryotes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laurent Vespa
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2128, USA
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