Sequence signatures of genes with accompanying antisense transcripts in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Recent studies have found many antisense non-coding transcripts at the opposite strand of some protein-coding genes. In yeast, it was reported that such antisense transcripts play regulatory roles for their partner genes by forming a feedback loop with the protein-coding genes. Since not all coding genes have accompanying antisense transcripts, it would be interesting to know whether there are sequence signatures in a coding gene that are decisive or associated with the existence of such antisense partners. We collected all the annotated antisense transcripts in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, analyzed sequence motifs around the genes with antisense partners, and classified genes with and without accompanying antisense transcripts by using machine learning methods. Some weak but statistically significant sequence features are detected, which indicates that there are sequence signatures around the protein-coding genes that may be decisive or indicative for the existence of accompanying antisense transcripts.