Chromatin Rearrangements in the prnD-prnB Bidirectional Promoter: Dependence on Transcription Factors

The prnD-prnB intergenic region regulates the divergent transcription of the genes encoding proline oxidase and the major proline transporter. Eight nucleosomes are positioned in this region. Upon induction, the positioning of these nucleosomes is lost. This process depends on the specific transcriptional activator PrnA but not on the general GATA factor AreA. Induction of prnB but not prnD can be elicited by amino acid starvation. A specific nucleosomal pattern in the prnB proximal region is associated with this process. Under conditions of induction by proline, metabolite repression depends on the presence of both repressing carbon (glucose) and nitrogen (ammonium) sources. Under these repressing conditions, partial nucleosomal positioning is observed. This depends on the CreA repressor's binding to two specific cis-acting sites. Three conditions (induction by the defective PrnA80 protein, induction by amino acid starvation, and induction in the presence of an activated CreA) result in similar low transcriptional activation. Each results in a different nucleosome pattern, which argues strongly for a specific effect of each signal on nucleosome positioning. Experiments with trichostatin A suggest that both default nucleosome positioning and partial positioning under induced-repressed conditions depend on deacetylated histones.

I.G. was supported by postdoctoral fellowships from, successively, the Spanish Ministry of Education and the EU Marie Curie Programme. R.G. was the recipient of postdoctoral fellowships from, successively, the EMBO and the EU Marie Curie Programme. D.G. was supported by a predoctoral scholarship from the French Ministère de l'Education Nationale, de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche, and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer. This work was supported by the Université Paris-Sud, the CNRS, the IUF, and EU contract BIO4-CT96-0535.

Peer reviewed