Pioneer transcription factors can engage nucleosomal DNA, which leads to local chromatin remodeling and to the establishment of transcriptional competence. However, the impact of enhancer priming by pioneer factors on the temporal control of gene expression and on mitotic memory remains unclear. Here we employ quantitative live imaging methods and mathematical modeling to test the effect of the pioneer factor Zelda on transcriptional dynamics and memory in Drosophila embryos. We demonstrate that increasing the number of Zelda binding sites accelerates the kinetics of nuclei transcriptional activation regardless of their transcriptional past. Despite its known pioneering activities, we show that Zelda does not remain detectably associated with mitotic chromosomes and is neither necessary nor sufficient to foster memory. We further reveal that Zelda forms sub-nuclear dynamic hubs where Zelda binding events are transient. We propose that Zelda facilitates transcriptional activation by accumulating in microenvironments where it could accelerate the duration of multiple pre-initiation steps.

Assembly of HIV-1 particles is initiated by the trafficking of viral Gag polyproteins from the cytoplasm to the plasma membrane (PM), where they co-localize and bud to form immature particles. Membrane targeting is mediated by the N-terminally myristoylated matrix (MA) domain of Gag and is dependent on the PM marker phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2]. Recent studies revealed that PI(4,5)P2 molecules containing truncated acyl chains [tr-PI(4,5)P2] are capable of binding MA in an “extended lipid” conformation and promoting myristoyl exposure. Here we report that tr-PI(4,5)P2 molecules also readily bind to non-membrane proteins, including HIV-1 capsid (CA), which prompted us to re-examine MA-PI(4,5)P2 interactions using native lipids and membrane mimetic liposomes and bicelles. Liposome binding trends observed using a recently developed NMR approach paralleled results of flotation assays, although the affinities measured under the equilibrium conditions of NMR experiments were significantly higher. Native PI(4,5)P2 enhanced MA binding to liposomes designed to mimic non-raft-like regions of the membrane, supporting proposals that Gag binding may nucleate raft formation. Studies with bicelles revealed a subset of surface and myr-associated MA residues that are sensitive to native PI(4,5)P2, but cleft residues that interact with the 2′-acyl chains of tr-PI(4,5)P2 molecules in aqueous solution were insensitive to native PI(4,5)P2 in bicelles. Our findings call to question extended-lipid MA:membrane binding models, and instead support a model put forward from coarse-grained simulations indicating that binding is mediated predominantly by dynamic, electrostatic interactions between conserved basic residues of MA and multiple PI(4,5)P2 and phosphatidylserine molecules.