Department of Biophysics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.
Eugene McDermott Center for Human Growth and Development, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75390, USA.
Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 24;13(1):11907. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39102-9.
Aberrant formation of biomolecular condensates has been proposed to play a role in several cancers. The oncogenic fusion protein BRD4-NUT forms condensates and drives changes in gene expression in Nut Carcinoma. Here we sought to understand the molecular elements of BRD4-NUT and its associated histone acetyltransferase (HAT), p300, that promote these activities. We determined that a minimal fragment of NUT (MIN) in fusion with BRD4 is necessary and sufficient to bind p300 and form condensates. Furthermore, a BRD4-p300 fusion protein also forms condensates and drives gene expression similarly to BRD4-NUT(MIN), suggesting the p300 fusion may mimic certain features of BRD4-NUT. The intrinsically disordered regions, transcription factor-binding domains, and HAT activity of p300 all collectively contribute to condensate formation by BRD4-p300, suggesting that these elements might contribute to condensate formation by BRD4-NUT. Conversely, only the HAT activity of BRD4-p300 appears necessary to mimic the transcriptional profile of cells expressing BRD4-NUT. Our results suggest a model for condensate formation by the BRD4-NUT:p300 complex involving a combination of positive feedback and phase separation, and show that multiple overlapping, yet distinct, regions of p300 contribute to condensate formation and transcriptional regulation.
生物分子凝聚物的异常形成被认为在几种癌症中发挥作用。致癌融合蛋白 BRD4-NUT 形成凝聚物,并驱动 Nut 癌中的基因表达变化。在这里,我们试图了解 BRD4-NUT 及其相关组蛋白乙酰转移酶 (HAT) p300 的分子元件,这些元件促进了这些活性。我们确定融合 BRD4 的 NUT (MIN) 最小片段是与 p300 结合并形成凝聚物所必需和充分的。此外,BRD4-p300 融合蛋白也形成凝聚物并驱动基因表达类似于 BRD4-NUT (MIN),这表明 p300 融合可能模拟 BRD4-NUT 的某些特征。p300 的无规卷曲区域、转录因子结合结构域和 HAT 活性都共同有助于 BRD4-p300 形成凝聚物,这表明这些元件可能有助于 BRD4-NUT 形成凝聚物。相反,只有 BRD4-p300 的 HAT 活性似乎对于模拟表达 BRD4-NUT 的细胞的转录谱是必需的。我们的结果提出了 BRD4-NUT:p300 复合物形成凝聚物的模型,涉及正反馈和相分离的组合,并表明 p300 的多个重叠但不同的区域有助于凝聚物形成和转录调控。