Anti-GCN5 (aa 1-300) polyclonal antibody

Histone modifiers regulate proper cellular activities in response to various environmental stress by modulating gene expression. In budding yeast, Rph1 transcriptionally represses many DNA damage or autophagy-related gene expression. However, little is known how Rph1 is regulated during these stress conditions. Here, we report that Rph1 is degraded upon DNA damage stress conditions. Notably, this degradation occurs via the autophagy pathway rather than through 26S proteasome proteolysis. Deletion of ATG genes or inhibition of vacuole protease activity compromises Rph1 turnover. We also determine that Rph1 and nuclear export protein Crm1 interact, which is required for Rph1 translocation from the nucleus to the cytoplasm. More importantly, Gcn5 directly acetylates Rph1 in vitro and in vivo, and Gcn5-containing complex, SAGA, is required for autophagic degradation of Rph1. Gcn5-mediated Rph1 acetylation is essential for the association of Rph1 with the nuclear pore protein Nup1. Finally, we show that sustaining high levels of Rph1 during DNA damage stress results in cell growth defects. Thus, we propose that Gcn5-mediated acetylation finely regulates Rph1 protein level and that autophagic degradation of Rph1 is important for cell homeostasis. Our findings may provide a general connection between DNA damage, protein acetylation and autophagy.

Chaperones, nucleosome remodeling complexes, and histone acetyltransferases have been implicated in nucleosome disassembly at promoters of particular yeast genes, but whether these cofactors function ubiquitously, as well as the impact of nucleosome eviction on transcription genome-wide, is poorly understood. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation of histone H3 and RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in mutants lacking single or multiple cofactors to address these issues for about 200 genes belonging to the Gcn4 transcriptome, of which about 70 exhibit marked reductions in H3 promoter occupancy on induction by amino acid starvation. Examining four target genes in a panel of mutants indicated that SWI/SNF, Gcn5, the Hsp70 cochaperone Ydj1, and chromatin-associated factor Yta7 are required downstream from Gcn4 binding, whereas Asf1/Rtt109, Nap1, RSC, and H2AZ are dispensable for robust H3 eviction in otherwise wild-type cells. Using ChIP-seq to interrogate all 70 exemplar genes in single, double, and triple mutants implicated Gcn5, Snf2, and Ydj1 in H3 eviction at most, but not all, Gcn4 target promoters, with Gcn5 generally playing the greatest role and Ydj1 the least. Remarkably, these three cofactors cooperate similarly in H3 eviction at virtually all yeast promoters. Defective H3 eviction in cofactor mutants was coupled with reduced Pol II occupancies for the Gcn4 transcriptome and the most highly expressed uninduced genes, but the relative Pol II levels at most genes were unaffected or even elevated. These findings indicate that nucleosome eviction is crucial for robust transcription of highly expressed genes but that other steps in gene activation are more rate-limiting for most other yeast genes.