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Visualization of aging-associated chromatin alterations with an engineered TALE system
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Visualization of aging-associated chromatin alterations with an engineered TALE system

Ruotong Ren, Liping Deng, Yanhong Xue, Keiichiro Suzuki, Weiqi Zhang, Jun Wu, Liang Sun, Xiaojun Gong, Huiqin Luan, Fan Yang, …
Cell research, Vol.27(4), pp.483-504
04/2017
DOI: 10.1038/cr.2017.18
PMCID: PMC5385610
PMID: 28139645
url
https://doi.org/10.1038/cr.2017.18View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Visualization of specific genomic loci in live cells is a prerequisite for the investigation of dynamic changes in chromatin architecture during diverse biological processes, such as cellular aging. However, current precision genomic imaging methods are hampered by the lack of fluorescent probes with high specificity and signal-to-noise contrast. We find that conventional transcription activator-like effectors (TALEs) tend to form protein aggregates, thereby compromising their performance in imaging applications. Through screening, we found that fusing thioredoxin with TALEs prevented aggregate formation, unlocking the full power of TALE-based genomic imaging. Using thioredoxin-fused TALEs (TTALEs), we achieved high-quality imaging at various genomic loci and observed aging-associated (epi) genomic alterations at telomeres and centromeres in human and mouse premature aging models. Importantly, we identified attrition of ribosomal DNA repeats as a molecular marker for human aging. Our study establishes a simple and robust imaging method for precisely monitoring chromatin dynamics in vitro and in vivo .
Aging ribosomal DNA repeat centromere thioredoxin-fused TALE Original telomere

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