Biology subjects

Storici, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Storici, F..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2020

Ribonucleotide incorporation characteristics around yeast autonomously replicating sequences reveal the labor division of replicative DNA polymerases

Ribonucleoside monophosphate (rNMP) incorporation in DNA is a natural and prominent phenomenon resulting in DNA structural change and genome instability. While DNA polymerases have different rNMP incorporation rates, little is known whether these enzymes incorporate rNMPs following specific sequence patterns. In this study, we analyzed a series of rNMP incorporation datasets, generated from three rNMP mapping techniques, and obtained from Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells expressing wild-type or mutant replicative DNA polymerase and ribonuclease H2 genes. We performed computational analyses of rNMP sites around early and late firing autonomously replicating sequences (ARSs) of the yeast genome, from which bidirectional, leading and lagging DNA synthesis starts. We find the preference of rNMP incorporation on the leading strand in wild-type DNA polymerase yeast cells. The leading/lagging-strand ratio of rNMP incorporation changes dramatically within 500 nt from ARSs, highlighting the Pol {delta} - Pol {varepsilon} handoff during early leading-strand synthesis. Furthermore, the pattern of rNMP incorporation is markedly distinct between the leading the lagging strand. Overall, our results show the different counts and patterns of rNMP incorporation during DNA replication from ARS, which reflects the different labor of division and rNMP incorporation pattern of Pol {delta} and Pol {varepsilon}.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

Mapping ribonucleotides embedded in genomic DNA to single-nucleotide resolution using Ribose-Map

Ribose-Map is a user-friendly, standardized bioinformatics toolkit for the comprehensive analysis of ribonucleotide sequencing experiments. It allows researchers to map the locations of ribonucleotides in DNA to single-nucleotide resolution and identify biological signatures of ribonucleotide incorporation. In addition, it can be applied to data generated using any currently available high-throughput ribonucleotide sequencing technique, thus standardizing the analysis of ribonucleotide sequencing experiments and allowing direct comparisons of results. This protocol describes in detail how to use Ribose-Map to analyze raw ribonucleotide sequencing data, including preparing the reads for analysis, locating the genomic coordinates of ribonucleotides, exploring the genome-wide distribution of ribonucleotides, determining the nucleotide sequence context of ribonucleotides, and identifying hotspots of ribonucleotide incorporation. Ribose-Map does not require background knowledge of ribonucleotide sequencing analysis and assumes only basic command-line skills. The protocol requires less than 3 hr of computing time for most datasets and about 30 min of hands-on time.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

Disproportionate presence of adenosine in mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Ribonucleoside monophosphates (rNMPs) represent the most common non-standard nucleotides found in the genomic DNA of cells. The distribution of rNMPs in DNA has been studied only in limited genomes, such as yeast nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, as well as human mitochondrial DNA. In this study, we used the ribose-seq protocol and the Ribose-Map bioinformatics toolkit to reveal the distribution of rNMPs incorporated into the whole genome of a photosynthetic unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The study presents the discovery of a disproportionate incorporation of adenosine in the mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA, in contrast to the nuclear DNA, relative to the nucleotide content of these C. reinhardtii genomes. Our results demonstrate that the rNMP content in the DNA of the algal organelles reflects an elevated ATP level present in the algal cells. In addition, we reveal specific rNMP biases and patterns in the mitochondrial, chloroplast and nuclear DNA of C. reinhardtii.

molecular biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Gene co-expression analysis of human RNASEH2A reveals functional networks associated with DNA replication, DNA damage response, and cell cycle regulation

Ribonuclease H2 (RNase H2) is a key enzyme for the removal of RNA found in DNA-RNA hybrids, playing a fundamental role in biological processes such as DNA replication, telomere maintenance and DNA damage repair. RNase H2 is a trimer composed of three subunits, being RNASEH2A the catalytic subunit. RNASEH2A expression levels have been shown to be upregulated in transformed and cancer cells. In this study we used a bioinformatics approach to identify RNASEH2A co-expressed genes in different human tissues to uncover biological processes in which RNASEH2A is involved. By implementing this approach, we identified functional networks for RNASEH2A that are not only involved in the processes of DNA replication and DNA damage response, but also in cell cycle regulation. Additional examination of protein-protein networks for RNASEH2A by the STRING database analysis, revealed a high co-expression correlation between RNASEH2A and the genes of the protein networks identified. Mass spectrometry analysis of RNASEH2A-bound proteins highlighted players functioning in cell cycle regulation. Further bioinformatics investigation showed increased gene expression of RNASEH2A in different types of actively cycling cells and tissues, and particularly in several cancers, supporting a biological role for RNASEH2A, but not the other two subunits of RNase H2, in cell proliferation.

molecular biology↗