No abstract

A highly sensitive procedure was developed for the identification of the origin of bidirectional DNA synthesis in single-copy replicons of ammalian cells. The method, which does not require cell synchronization or permeabilization, entails the absolute quantification, by a competitive PCR procedure in newly synthesized DNA samples, of the abundance of neighboring DNA framents distributed along a given genomic region. Terminal differentiation of HL-60 was achieved with retinoic acid and dimethylformamide, as described (17).Transfection. Plasmid pAWTSV (=9 kb), a kind gift of Cesare Vesco (Institute of Cell Biology, Rome), carries the whole simian virus 40 (SV40) genome inserted in the BamHI site of pAT153 (18). Six 10-cm tissue culture plates, containing about 106 COS-1 cells each, were transfected with 10 pg of pAWTSV by the calcium phosphate precipitation technique. After 10 hr of incubation in calcium phosphate solution, cells were extensively washed and fresh medium was added, containing 10 nCi of [14C]thymidine per ml. After 18 hr of incubation, BrdUrd (100 uM final concentration) and[3H]deoxycytidine (1 jAM final concentration) were added.After 1 min of incubation, cells were killed by addition of sodium azide and DNA was extracted as described below.Extrction and Purification of Newly Syntez DNA.Total DNA was extracted, denatured, and size-fractionated by sedimentation through neutral sucrose gradients as described (15).In the experiment involving transfection of plasmid pAW-TSV, DNA (700 /4 final volume) was fractionated on four 5-20%6 (wt/vol) linear sucrose gradients (5 ml each) for 210 min at 200C in a Beckman SW55Ti rotor at 55 krpm; 24 fractions of 200 j4 were collected.In the experiment with synchronized HL-60 cells, DNA (2 ml final volume) was fractionated on eight 5-30% sucrose Abbreviations: DHFR, dihydrofolate reductase; SV40, simian virus 40. tTo whom reprint requests should be addressed. 7119The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact.

Heat shock triggers the assembly of nuclear stress bodies that contain heat shock factor 1 and a subset of RNA processing factors. These structures are formed on the pericentromeric heterochromatic regions of specific human chromosomes, among which chromosome 9. In this article we show that these heterochromatic domains are characterized by an epigenetic status typical of euchromatic regions. Similarly to transcriptionally competent portions of the genome, stress bodies are, in fact, enriched in acetylated histone H4. Acetylation peaks at 6 h of recovery from heat shock. Moreover, heterochromatin markers, such as HP1 and histone H3 methylated on lysine 9, are excluded from these nuclear districts. In addition, heat shock triggers the transient accumulation of RNA molecules, heterogeneous in size, containing the subclass of satellite III sequences found in the pericentromeric heterochromatin of chromosome 9. This is the first report of a transcriptional activation of a constitutive heterochromatic portion of the genome in response to stress stimuli.

In heat-shocked human cells, heat shock factor 1 activates transcription of tandem arrays of repetitive Satellite III (SatIII) DNA in pericentromeric heterochromatin. Satellite III RNAs remain associated with sites of transcription in nuclear stress bodies (nSBs). Here we use real-time RT-PCR to study the expression of these genomic regions. Transcription is highly asymmetrical and most of the transcripts contain the G-rich strand of the repeat. A low level of G-rich RNAs is detectable in unstressed cells and a 104-fold induction occurs after heat shock. G-rich RNAs are induced by a wide range of stress treatments including heavy metals, UV-C, oxidative and hyper-osmotic stress. Differences exist among stressing agents both for the kinetics and the extent of induction (>100- to 80.000-fold). In all cases, G-rich transcripts are associated with nSBs. On the contrary, C-rich transcripts are almost undetectable in unstressed cells and modestly increase after stress. Production of SatIII RNAs after hyper-osmotic stress depends on the Tonicity Element Binding Protein indicating that activation of the arrays is triggered by different transcription factors. This is the first example of a non-coding RNA whose transcription is controlled by different transcription factors under different growth conditions.