Tethering of the conserved piggyBac transposase fusion protein CSB-PGBD3 to chromosomal AP-1 proteins regulates expression of nearby genes in humans

PLoS Genet. 2012 Sep;8(9):e1002972. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002972. Epub 2012 Sep 27.

Abstract

The CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein arose more than 43 million years ago when a 2.5-kb piggyBac 3 (PGBD3) transposon inserted into intron 5 of the Cockayne syndrome Group B (CSB) gene in the common ancestor of all higher primates. As a result, full-length CSB is now coexpressed with an abundant CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein by alternative splicing of CSB exons 1-5 to the PGBD3 transposase. An internal deletion of the piggyBac transposase ORF also gave rise to 889 dispersed, 140-bp MER85 elements that were mobilized in trans by PGBD3 transposase. The CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein binds MER85s in vitro and induces a strong interferon-like innate antiviral immune response when expressed in CSB-null UVSS1KO cells. To explore the connection between DNA binding and gene expression changes induced by CSB-PGBD3, we investigated the genome-wide DNA binding profile of the fusion protein. CSB-PGBD3 binds to 363 MER85 elements in vivo, but these sites do not correlate with gene expression changes induced by the fusion protein. Instead, CSB-PGBD3 is enriched at AP-1, TEAD1, and CTCF motifs, presumably through protein-protein interactions with the cognate transcription factors; moreover, recruitment of CSB-PGBD3 to AP-1 and TEAD1 motifs correlates with nearby genes regulated by CSB-PGBD3 expression in UVSS1KO cells and downregulated by CSB rescue of mutant CS1AN cells. Consistent with these data, the N-terminal CSB domain of the CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein interacts with the AP-1 transcription factor c-Jun and with RNA polymerase II, and a chimeric CSB-LacI construct containing only the N-terminus of CSB upregulates many of the genes induced by CSB-PGBD3. We conclude that the CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein substantially reshapes the transcriptome in CS patient CS1AN and that continued expression of the CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein in the absence of functional CSB may affect the clinical presentation of CS patients by directly altering the transcriptional program.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Binding Sites
  • CCCTC-Binding Factor
  • Cockayne Syndrome* / genetics
  • Cockayne Syndrome* / immunology
  • Cockayne Syndrome* / metabolism
  • DNA Helicases* / genetics
  • DNA Helicases* / metabolism
  • DNA Repair Enzymes* / genetics
  • DNA Repair Enzymes* / metabolism
  • DNA Transposable Elements / genetics*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Regulation / genetics
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Innate / genetics
  • Mutant Chimeric Proteins / genetics*
  • Mutant Chimeric Proteins / immunology
  • Mutant Chimeric Proteins / metabolism
  • Nuclear Proteins / genetics
  • Nuclear Proteins / metabolism
  • Poly-ADP-Ribose Binding Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins / genetics
  • Repressor Proteins / metabolism
  • TEA Domain Transcription Factors
  • Transcription Factor AP-1 / genetics
  • Transcription Factor AP-1 / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transcriptome

Substances

  • CCCTC-Binding Factor
  • CTCF protein, human
  • DNA Transposable Elements
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • Mutant Chimeric Proteins
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Poly-ADP-Ribose Binding Proteins
  • Repressor Proteins
  • TEA Domain Transcription Factors
  • TEAD1 protein, human
  • Transcription Factor AP-1
  • Transcription Factors
  • CSB-PGBD3 fusion protein, human
  • DNA Helicases
  • ERCC6 protein, human
  • DNA Repair Enzymes