Marshall, C. J. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2023

Structural basis of archaeal FttA-dependent transcription termination

The ribonuclease FttA mediates factor-dependent transcription termination in archaea1-3. Here, we report the structure of a Thermococcus kodakarensis transcription pre-termination complex comprising FttA, Spt4, Spt5, and a transcription elongation complex (TEC). The structure shows that FttA interacts with the TEC in a manner that enables RNA to proceed directly from the TEC RNA-exit channel to the FttA catalytic center and that enables endonucleolytic cleavage of RNA by FttA, followed by 5[->]3 exonucleolytic cleavage of RNA by FttA and concomitant 5[->]3 translocation of FttA on RNA, to apply mechanical force to the TEC and trigger termination. The structure further reveals that Spt5 bridges FttA and the TEC, explaining how Spt5 stimulates FttA-dependent termination. The results reveal functional analogy between bacterial and archaeal factor-dependent termination, reveal functional homology between archaeal and eukaryotic factor-dependent termination, and reveal fundamental mechanistic similarities in factor-dependent termination in the three domains of life: bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic. One sentence summaryCryo-EM reveals the structure of the archaeal FttA pre-termination complex

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2023

FSHβ links photoperiodic signalling to seasonal reproduction in Japanese quail

Annual cycles in daylength provide an initial predictive environmental cue that plants and animals use to time seasonal biology. Seasonal changes in photoperiodic information acts to entrain endogenous programs in physiology to optimize an animals fitness. Attempts to identify the neural and molecular substrates of photoperiodic time measurement in birds have, to date, focussed on blunt changes in light exposure during a restricted period of photoinducibility. The objectives of these studies were first to characterise a molecular seasonal clock in Japanese quail and second, to identify the key transcripts involved in endogenously generated interval timing that underlies photosensitivity in birds. We hypothesized that the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) provides the neuroendocrine control of photoperiod-induced changes in reproductive physiology, and that the pars distalis of the pituitary gland contains an endogenous internal timer for the short photoperiod dependent development of reproductive photosensitivity. Here we report distinct seasonal waveforms of transcript expression in the MBH, and pituitary gland and discovered the patterns were not synchronized across tissues. Follicle-stimulating hormone-{beta} (FSH{beta}) expression increased during the simulated spring equinox, prior to photoinduced increases in prolactin, thyrotropin-stimulating hormone-{beta} and testicular growth. Diurnal analyses of transcript expression showed sustained elevated levels of FSH{beta} under conditions of the spring equinox, compared to autumnal equinox, short (<12L) and long (>12L) photoperiods. FSH{beta} expression increased in quail held in non-stimulatory short photoperiod, indicative of the initiation of an endogenously programmed interval timer. These data identify that FSH{beta} establishes a state of photosensitivity for the external coincidence timing of seasonal physiology. The independent regulation of FSH{beta} expression provides an alternative pathway through which other supplementary environmental cues, such as temperature, can fine tune seasonal reproductive maturation and involution.

zoology↗