Modulating gene regulation function by chemically controlled transcription factor clustering

Jiegen Wu, Baoqiang Chen, Yadi Liu, Liang Ma, Wen Huang and Yihan Lin ()
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Jiegen Wu: Peking University
Baoqiang Chen: Tsinghua University
Yadi Liu: Peking University
Liang Ma: Peking University
Wen Huang: Peking University
Yihan Lin: Peking University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Recent studies have suggested that transcriptional protein condensates (or clusters) may play key roles in gene regulation and cell fate determination. However, it remains largely unclear how the gene regulation function is quantitatively tuned by transcription factor (TF) clustering and whether TF clustering may confer emergent behaviors as in cell fate control systems. Here, to address this, we construct synthetic TFs whose clustering behavior can be chemically controlled. Through single-parameter tuning of the system (i.e., TF clustering propensity), we provide lines of evidence supporting the direct transcriptional activation and amplification of target genes by TF clustering. Single-gene imaging suggests that such amplification results from the modulation of transcriptional dynamics. Importantly, TF clustering propensity modulates the gene regulation function by significantly tuning the effective TF binding affinity and to a lesser extent the ultrasensitivity, contributing to bimodality and sustained response behavior that are reminiscent of canonical cell fate control systems. Collectively, these results demonstrate that TF clustering can modulate the gene regulation function to enable emergent behaviors, and highlight the potential applications of chemically controlled protein clustering.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30397-2

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