ATP-dependent Remodeling Proteins Research Articles

VP16-dependent association of chromatin-modifying coactivators and underrepresentation of histones at immediate-early gene promoters during herpes simplex virus infection.

During infection by herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the virion protein VP16 activates the transcription of viral immediate-early (IE) genes. Genetic and biochemical assays have shown that the potent transcriptional activation domain of VP16 can associate with general transcription factors and with chromatin-modifying coactivator proteins of several types. The latter interactions are particularly intriguing because previous reports indicate that HSV-1 DNA does not become nucleosomal during lytic infection. In the present work, chemical cross-linking and immunoprecipitation assays were used to probe the presence of activators, general transcription factors, and chromatin-modifying coactivators at IE gene promoters during infection of HeLa cells by wild-type HSV-1 and by RP5, a viral strain lacking the VP16 transcriptional activation domain. The presence of VP16 and Oct-1 at IE promoters did not depend on the activation domain. In contrast, association of RNA polymerase II, TATA-binding protein, histone acetyltransferases (p300 and CBP), and ATP-dependent remodeling proteins (BRG1 and hBRM) with IE gene promoters was observed in wild-type infections but was absent or reduced in cells infected by RP5. In contrast to the previous evidence for nonnucleosomal HSV-1 DNA, histone H3 was found associated with viral DNA at early times of infection. Interestingly, histone H3 was underrepresented on IE promoters in a manner dependent on the VP16 activation domain. Thus, the VP16 activation domain is responsible for recruiting general transcription factors and coactivators to IE promoters and also for dramatically reducing the association of histones with those promoters.

Reconstitution of glucocorticoid receptor-dependent transcription in vivo.

We developed a model system to study glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated chromatin remodeling by the BRG1 complex. Introduction of the BRG1 ATPase into the SW-13 cell line initiates the formation of a functional remodeling complex. This complex is able to induce transcriptional activation from a transiently transfected promoter with wild-type and chromatin-remodeling-deficient BRG1 mutants, suggesting that the complex possesses a coactivator function independent from remodeling. Transactivation from a chromatin template requires the BRG1 remodeling function, which induces regions of hypersensitivity and transcription factor loading onto the integrated MMTV promoter. We report that BRG1 remodeling activity is required for GR-mediated transactivation and that this activity cannot be replaced by other ATP-dependent remodeling proteins. Further characterization of the BRG1-associated factors (BAFs) present in these cells (for example, the expression of BAF250 but not BAF180) reveals that the BAF complex rather than the polybromo-associated BAF complex is the necessary and sufficient chromatin-remodeling component with which the receptor functions in vivo. These results in conjunction with previous findings demonstrate that the GR functions with multiple forms of the SWI/SNF complex in vivo.