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Targeted in Situ Mutagenesis of Histone Genes in Budding Yeast
Published on: January 26, 2017
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Antisense transcriptional interference mediates condition-specific gene repression in budding yeast
Alicia Nevers1,2, Antonia Doyen1, Christophe Malabat1,3
1Unité GIM, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Nucleic Acids Research
|May 23, 2018
Summary
Pervasive transcription creates antisense RNAs (asRNAs) that repress gene expression in budding yeast. This transcription interference mechanism impacts many genes, particularly during cellular quiescence.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Genetics
- Gene Regulation
Background:
- Budding yeast exhibits pervasive transcription, producing numerous unstable non-coding RNAs.
- Antisense RNAs (asRNAs) can repress mRNA expression, but this mechanism's broad regulatory role is unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the role of pervasive transcripts and asRNAs in gene expression regulation.
- Determine if transcription interference commonly impacts gene expression, especially for lowly expressed genes.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a mutant yeast strain to stabilize pervasive transcripts.
- Analyzed asRNA levels and their overlap with gene promoters.
- Interrupted antisense transcription for specific gene sets and assessed mRNA expression.
- Examined the involvement of chromatin modifiers.
Main Results:
- Lowly expressed mRNAs in exponential phase correlate with high asRNA levels.
- asRNAs frequently overlap promoters of their corresponding genes.
- Interfering with asRNA transcription restored expression of quiescence-enriched mRNAs.
- Transcription interference represses up to 30% of the least expressed genes, including quiescence-enriched ones.
- Pervasive transcripts are more abundant in quiescence than in exponential phase.
Conclusions:
- Transcription interference by asRNAs is a significant regulatory mechanism in budding yeast.
- This mechanism represses a substantial portion of lowly expressed genes, impacting cellular quiescence.
- Gene expression itself plays a role in suppressing pervasive transcription.
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