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Updated: May 11, 2026
Cell Based Assays of SINEUP Non-coding RNAs That Can Specifically Enhance mRNA Translation
Published on: February 1, 2019
A gene expression restriction network mediated by sense and antisense Alu sequences located on protein-coding
Kung-Hao Liang1, Chau-Ting Yeh
1Liver Research Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, and Molecular Medicine Research Center, Chang Gung University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan.
Background:
Alus are primate-specific retrotransposons which account for 10.6% of the human genome. A large number of protein-coding mRNAs are encoded with sense or antisense Alus in the un-translated regions.
Results:
We postulated that mRNAs carrying Alus in the two opposite directions can generate double stranded RNAs, capable of regulating the levels of other Alu-carrying mRNAs post-transcriptionally. A gene expression profiling assay showed that the levels of antisense and sense Alus-carrying mRNAs were suppressed in a reversible manner by over-expression of exogenous sense and antisense Alus derived from mRNAs (Family-wise error rate P=0.0483 and P<0.0001 respectively). Screening through human mRNAs on the NCBI-RefSeq database, it was found that sense and antisense Alu-carrying transcripts were enriched in distinct cellular functions. Antisense Alu-carrying genes were particularly enriched in neurological and developmental processes, while sense Alu-carrying genes were enriched in immunological functions.
Conclusions:
Taken together, we proposed a novel Alu-mediated regulation network capable of stabilizing Alu-carrying mRNA levels in different cell types and restricting the activated expression levels of protein-coding, Alu-carrying mRNAs.
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