{"id":12754,"date":"2020-02-06T15:57:40","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T20:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/?p=12754"},"modified":"2020-05-01T11:38:42","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T15:38:42","slug":"key-molecular-machine-in-cells-pictured-in-detail-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/news\/key-molecular-machine-in-cells-pictured-in-detail-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Molecular Machine in Cells Pictured in Detail for the First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"float: none;background-color: #ffffff;color: #323232;font-family: 'franklin-gothic-urw','Franklin Gothic Book','Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size: 1em;font-style: italic;font-variant: normal;font-weight: 400;letter-spacing: normal;line-height: 1.3em;text-align: left;text-decoration: none;text-indent: 0px;text-transform: none\">Histone mRNA-cleaving machine, crucial for healthy cell division, yields up its secrets after almost half a century of research. Zbigniew Dominski, PhD, and William Marzluff, PhD, led this effort at the UNC School of Medicine, along with key collaborators at Columbia University and Rockefeller University. <\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12737\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 216px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12737\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-206x300.jpg\" alt=\"Professor Dominski\" width=\"206\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-206x300.jpg 206w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-703x1024.jpg 703w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-768x1117.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-1055x1536.jpg 1055w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-1407x2048.jpg 1407w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020-600x872.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2015\/06\/dominski10596.2020.jpg 1152w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 206px) 100vw, 206px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Zbigniew Dominski, PhD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Scientists from the UNC School of Medicine, Columbia University, and Rockefeller University have revealed the inner workings of one of the most fundamental and important molecular machines in cells.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers, in a <a class=\"external-link\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/science.sciencemag.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1126\/science.aaz7758\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study published in <i>Science<\/i><\/a>, used biochemical experiments and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine the atomic structure of a complex assembly of molecules known as the histone mRNA three-prime (3\u2019) end-processing machine. This machine plays a fundamental role in proper activity and duplication of the cell genome and when defective, it may lead to human diseases, including cancers.<\/p>\n<p>Histone proteins are found in all plants and animals, and they form a \u201cbeads-on-a-string\u201d arrangement where the DNA in chromosomes is wrapped around the beads of histones. Histones ensure the efficient packaging of DNA and help regulate which genes are turned \u201con\u201d and which are kept \u201coff,\u201d processes needed for all cells to function properly.<\/p>\n<p>The histone mRNA 3\u2019 end-processing machine is responsible for cutting \u2013 at precisely the right place \u2013 the mRNA transcript that is copied out from a histone gene and encodes the corresponding histone protein. The machine performs an essential role in cells\u2019 production of histone proteins, which occurs at high levels whenever a cell divides and must replicate its DNA.\u00a0 The structure shows how the machine is activated only after it binds the histone mRNA, preventing cleavage of other RNAs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12757\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 225px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12757\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-215x300.jpg\" alt=\"William Marzluff PhD \" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-215x300.jpg 215w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-735x1024.jpg 735w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res.jpg 766w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-1103x1536.jpg 1103w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-1471x2048.jpg 1471w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Bill-Marzluff-PhD-2020-high-res-600x834.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">William Marzluff, PhD<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThis structure provides the first atomic insights into a critical process in cells, and beautifully explains the large body of current knowledge on this machinery,\u201d said senior author Liang Tong, PhD, William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of the Biological Sciences Department at Columbia University. \u201cThe structure has been long awaited by scientists in the field, and the elegant amphora shape of the machinery is an unexpected bonus. The structure also provides valuable insights into other RNA 3\u2019-end processing machineries, because they share key components with the histone machinery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tong\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/31810758\">recent studies<\/a> showed the canonical machinery in an inactive form. So, now, scientists have a glimpse of how the machinery is activated. \u201cThis structure is another illustration of the remarkable power of the new cryo-EM technique,\u201d Tong added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_13708\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 310px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13708\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/2-6-2020.jpg\" alt=\"Epigenetics describes modifications\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">Epigenetics describes modifications to the genome that can be passed on to future cells. These changes do not alter the nucleotide sequence of the DNA-the As, Gs, Ts, and Cs that make up our genes. Rather, they modify the \u201cbackbone\u201d that supports the DNA sequence. These modifications influence when and how often a gene is active. Credit: Darryl Leja, NHGRI.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The solution of the structure of this complex, a landmark achievement of molecular biology, is the culmination of nearly 40 years of research by a number of laboratories and molecular biologists.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started on the problem of histone mRNA and how it\u2019s regulated when I first started my laboratory as an assistant professor at Florida State in 1974,\u201d said study co-author William Marzluff, PhD, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine and the Integrative Program in Biological and Genome Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill. \u201cAnd this is certainly the most important contribution we have made in this field of inquiry so far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a long time we have been studying different pieces of this molecular machine, but now for the first time we know how all the pieces fit together and work together,\u201d said Zbigniew Dominski, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry &amp; Biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine, who led the discovery of many of the components of the machine. \u201cIt\u2019s as if someone opened up the hood of an old car so that at last you could see how the whole engine looks and works, suddenly learning about unexpected mechanical and functional details.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dominski was a co-corresponding author of the study with Thomas Walz, PhD, Professor and Head of Laboratory of Molecular Electron Microscopy at Rockefeller University.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 335px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/images\/science-images\/marzluff-thing\" rel=\"lightbox\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"marzluff thing\" src=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/images\/science-images\/marzluff-thing\/@@images\/aaebd6b9-ab17-4363-8460-88c348b49484.jpeg\" alt=\"marzluff thing\" width=\"325\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">The histone mRNA three-prime (3\u2019) end-processing machine. The histone mRNA three-prime (3\u2019) end-processing machine. This press release picture was created by Liang Tong.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12761\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 310px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12761\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-300x300.png\" alt=\"Science paper cover photo for Bill Marzluff 2020\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-1024x1024.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-1536x1536.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-2048x2048.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-64x64.png 64w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow-600x600.png 600w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/Cover-4-Shadow.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">The cover-4 Shadow picture was created by Brenda Temple and Zbig Dominski.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>A special tail<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Every protein is produced in a process that starts with a gene. Special enzymes copy out, or transcribe, the information in the gene in the form of ribonucleic acid (RNA), a close molecular cousin of DNA in the cell nucleus. A special molecular machine called a 3\u2019 end processing machine must then cut that strand of RNA at the correct place to process it into a molecule called a messenger RNA (mRNA), which migrates into the main part of the cell and is translated there into the final protein.<\/p>\n<p>The mRNAs for virtually all proteins are processed by one type of 3\u2019 end-processing machine, which cuts them at the correct place and adds a special tail to them. Histone transcripts in animal cells which encode histone proteins needed for cell division are processed by a different machine, which cuts them but adds no tail. And this is the machine that we are now very familiar with due to this breakthrough structural study.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo one really knows why histone mRNAs are different from other mRNAs; it\u2019s what we call a theological question,\u201d Marzluff joked.<\/p>\n<p>The canonical and histone RNA 3\u2019 end-processing machines are each composed of more than a dozen individual proteins and RNA molecules. Some of these elements are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/31810758\">found in both machines<\/a>, suggesting a common evolutionary origin. Since the histone 3\u2019 processing machine contains the same three core proteins as the canonical machine, including the protein that actually cleaves the RNA, the process of activation of the two machines is likely similar, although the way the two machines recognize their RNA targets is distinct.<\/p>\n<p>Tong, Dominski, Marzluff and their colleagues succeeded in assembling a working version of the histone RNA 3\u2019 end-processing machine from its 13 protein and 2 RNA components, essentially in a test-tube. The machine was then imaged using cryo-electron microscopes at the New York Structural Biology Center (NYSBC), and subsequent data processing ultimately led to a structure at near atomic resolution. The team was also able to mutate key components to verify their individual functions.<\/p>\n<p><b>The amphora<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The structure of the machine turned out to resemble an amphora with one long handle. The cryo-EM analysis also revealed how the machine recognizes histone RNA and cuts it at precisely the right place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt detects two elements of the RNA strand, and only when they are present does the cutting device in this machine expose its blades, so to speak,\u201d Dominski said. \u201cThere is no randomness, no accident; it cleaves only what it is supposed to cleave, and the study reveals this beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dominski has been investigating this histone RNA-processing machinery since the mid-1990s and with Marzluff, Tong, and others has been responsible for key <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC2888136\/\">discoveries<\/a> about individual components. \u201cThis is more or less the end of the road, as far as understanding how this machine works,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve resolved that pretty clearly with this study, and it\u2019s a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12760\" class=\"thumbnail wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"width: 1034px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12760 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-1024x392.jpg\" alt=\"drs. liang zbig and Marzluff\" width=\"1024\" height=\"392\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-1024x392.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-300x114.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-768x294.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-1536x588.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-2048x784.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/795\/2020\/02\/liang-zbig-me-in-Krakow-600x229.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"caption wp-caption-text\">This picture of Bill Marzluff, Liang Tong, and Zbig Dominski was taken in Krakow at the RNA Society Meeting right after they discovered the structure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><i>Other authors were first authors Yadong Sun of Columbia University and Yixiao Zhang of Rockefeller University, Wei Shen Aik of Columbia, and Xiao-Cui Yang of UNC-Chapel Hill.\u00a0Marzluff is a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>The National Institutes of Health funded this research. Read more about the importance of cryo-EM <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2020\/01\/we-need-people-s-cryo-em-scientists-hope-bring-revolutionary-microscope-masses\"><i>here<\/i><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>Media contacts: <\/i><\/p>\n<p><a><i>Mark Derewicz<\/i><\/a><i>, UNC School of Medicine, 984-974-1915<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a><i>Carla Cantor<\/i><\/a><i>, Columbia University, <\/i><i>212-854-5276<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Histone mRNA-cleaving machine, crucial for healthy cell division, yields up its secrets after almost half a century of research. Zbigniew Dominski, PhD, and William Marzluff, PhD, led this effort at the UNC School of Medicine, along with key collaborators at Columbia University and Rockefeller University. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41619,"featured_media":12760,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[330,10,238,298,339],"class_list":["post-12754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2020-faculty-year-in-review","tag-news_faculty","tag-marzluff_news","tag-news_2020","tag-news_faculty_s20","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Key Molecular Machine in Cells Pictured in Detail for the First Time | Biochemistry and Biophysics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/biochem\/news\/key-molecular-machine-in-cells-pictured-in-detail-for-the-first-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key Molecular Machine in Cells Pictured in Detail for the First Time | Biochemistry and Biophysics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Histone mRNA-cleaving machine, crucial for healthy cell division, yields up its secrets after almost half a century of research. 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