A SAM oligomerization domain shapes the genomic binding landscape of the LEAFY transcription factor

Camille Sayou; Max H Nanao; Marc Jamin; David Posé; Emmanuel Thévenon; Laura Grégoire; Gabrielle Tichtinsky; Grégoire Denay; Felix Ott; Marta Peirats Llobet; Markus Schmid; Renaud Dumas; François Parcy

doi:10.1038/ncomms11222

A SAM oligomerization domain shapes the genomic binding landscape of the LEAFY transcription factor

Nat Commun. 2016 Apr 21:7:11222. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11222.

Authors

Camille Sayou¹, Max H Nanao², Marc Jamin³, David Posé^{4

5}, Emmanuel Thévenon¹, Laura Grégoire¹, Gabrielle Tichtinsky¹, Grégoire Denay¹, Felix Ott⁴, Marta Peirats Llobet¹, Markus Schmid^{4

6}, Renaud Dumas¹, François Parcy^{1

7}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS UMR5168, CEA/DRF/BIG, INRA UMR 1417, 17, avenue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble, France.
² European Molecular Biology Laboratory, 71, avenue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France.
³ Institut de Biologie Structurale CEA/DRF, CNRS, Université Grenoble Alpes, 71, avenue des Martyrs, 38044 Grenoble, France.
⁴ Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Instituto de Hortofruticultura Subtropical y Mediterránea, Universidad de Málaga-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
⁶ Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Plant Physiology, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
⁷ Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics, Child and Family Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V5Z 4H4.

Abstract

Deciphering the mechanisms directing transcription factors (TFs) to specific genome regions is essential to understand and predict transcriptional regulation. TFs recognize short DNA motifs primarily through their DNA-binding domain. Some TFs also possess an oligomerization domain suspected to potentiate DNA binding but for which the genome-wide influence remains poorly understood. Here we focus on the LEAFY transcription factor, a master regulator of flower development in angiosperms. We have determined the crystal structure of its conserved amino-terminal domain, revealing an unanticipated Sterile Alpha Motif oligomerization domain. We show that this domain is essential to LEAFY floral function. Moreover, combined biochemical and genome-wide assays suggest that oligomerization is required for LEAFY to access regions with low-affinity binding sites or closed chromatin. This finding shows that domains that do not directly contact DNA can nevertheless have a profound impact on the DNA binding landscape of a TF.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acid Sequence
Arabidopsis / genetics*
Arabidopsis / growth & development
Arabidopsis / metabolism
Arabidopsis Proteins / chemistry*
Arabidopsis Proteins / genetics
Arabidopsis Proteins / metabolism
Binding Sites
Chromatin / chemistry
Chromatin / metabolism
Cloning, Molecular
Crystallography, X-Ray
Escherichia coli / genetics
Escherichia coli / metabolism
Flowers / genetics*
Flowers / growth & development
Flowers / metabolism
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
Genome, Plant*
Models, Molecular
Molecular Sequence Data
Oryza / genetics*
Oryza / growth & development
Oryza / metabolism
Protein Binding
Protein Multimerization
Protein Structure, Secondary
Protein Structure, Tertiary
Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
Recombinant Proteins / genetics
Recombinant Proteins / metabolism
Sequence Alignment
Transcription Factors / chemistry*
Transcription Factors / genetics
Transcription Factors / metabolism
Transcription, Genetic

Substances

Arabidopsis Proteins
Chromatin
LFY protein, Arabidopsis
Recombinant Proteins
Transcription Factors