scholarly journals Exploration of the cyanidioschyzon merolae intron landscape

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Viktor Slat

The eukaryotic process of pre-mRNA splicing involves the removal of noncoding intron sequences and the fusion of the remaining protein-coding exon sequences. The splicing reaction is catalyzed by the spliceosome, a dynamic multi-megadalton ribonucleoprotein complex that, in humans, is composed of 5 small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs) and over 200 associated proteins acting on more that 200,000 introns present within 25,000 genes. The unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae possesses a more tractable splicing environment, with only 4 snRNAs and 75 associated proteins interacting with 27 annotated introns found in 26 our of 5,331 genes. Intron-rich genomes can confer benefits to their host species such as improved gene expression, incredible proteomic diversity, and increased genetic stability. This raises the question of why intron-poor C. merolae has retained such a small number of introns and a dramatically reduced spliceosome. A comprehensive investigation into the precise role that introns play in C. merolae would require the systematic removal of introns and an analysis of the effects thereof. The ability to elucidate the role of splicing in C. merolae via genome-wide intron deletion, however, hinges on the feasibility of establishing the efficiently scalable CRISPR genome engineering tool in C. merolae. It also follows that such an endeavour would require an accurate picture of the intron landscape of C. merolae, and since the number of annotated introns in C. merolae is relatively small, it is especially vital to determine whether any introns are missing from the C. merolae annotation. To that end, a stable and inducible Cas9-expressing strain of C. merolae was successfully developed. Transcriptome analysis using RNA-seq data revealed the discovery of 11 novel introns and 1 misannotated intron, as well as the presence of alternative splicing in the form of alternative splice site usage.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Tabakoff ◽  
Jennifer Mahaffey ◽  
Spencer Mahaffey ◽  
Lauren Vanderlinden ◽  
Laura Saba ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundCardiac hypertrophy can be considered a maladaptive response which in many cases results in heart failure and sudden death. Genetic predisposition to cardiac hypertrophy is ill-defined, but current research has given credence to a role of non-protein-coding RNAs in the development of cardiac hypertrophy.ResultsWe used microarrays, RNA-Seq and quantitative genetics with the spontaneously hypertensive, SHR (SHR/OlaIpcv) rat strain, the normotensive Brown Norway (BN-Lx/Cub) rat strain, and a recombinant inbred (RI) panel of rats (HXB/BXH) derived from these strains to examine the areas of the genome associated with cardiac hypertrophy. We identified circular (circ) RNAs coded within these areas. Of the 122 differentially expressed circRNAs in left ventricle of SHR and BN-Lx rats, three were transcribed from areas corresponding to the QTLs we identified for cardiac hypertrophy using the HXB/BXH rat panel. We then identified microRNAs which are “sponged” by the circ RNAs and the mRNAs which are destabilized by the microRNAs. 265 miRNAs could be identified as targets for the three circRNAs. We focused on the four miRNAs that were also differentially expressed between SHR and BN-Lx rats. One of the miRNAs (Mir-210-5p) was a target of the differentially expressed circ H2afy and circ H2afy was located within the QTL on Chr 17 (genome wide p-value = 0.011). Mir-210-5p has a binding site on the 3’ UTR of DR6, which is differentially expressed and in turn controls the expression level of NFκB. NFκB is an important component of the oxidative stress response leading to hypertrophy.ConclusionsOur work identified a novel circRNA that may be the mediator of a cascade of events that influence a cardiac hypertrophy phenotype. The circRNA and miRNA which we identified may become useful as markers of the risk for cardiac hypertrophy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Secchi ◽  
Paola Benaglio ◽  
Francesca Mulas ◽  
Martina Belli ◽  
Dwayne Stupack ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Adult granulosa cell tumor (aGCT) is a rare type of stromal cell malignant cancer of the ovary characterized by elevated estrogen levels. aGCTs ubiquitously harbor a somatic mutation in FOXL2 gene, Cys134Trp (c.402C < G); however, the general molecular effect of this mutation and its putative pathogenic role in aGCT tumorigenesis is not completely understood. We previously studied the role of FOXL2C134W, its partner SMAD3 and its antagonist FOXO1 in cellular models of aGCT. Methods In this work, seeking more comprehensive profiling of FOXL2C134W transcriptomic effects, we performed an RNA-seq analysis comparing the effect of FOXL2WT/SMAD3 and FOXL2C134W/SMAD3 overexpression in an established human GC line (HGrC1), which is not luteinized, and bears normal alleles of FOXL2. Results Our data shows that FOXL2C134W/SMAD3 overexpression alters the expression of 717 genes. These genes include known and novel FOXL2 targets (TGFB2, SMARCA4, HSPG2, MKI67, NFKBIA) and are enriched for neoplastic pathways (Proteoglycans in Cancer, Chromatin remodeling, Apoptosis, Tissue Morphogenesis, Tyrosine Kinase Receptors). We additionally expressed the FOXL2 antagonistic Forkhead protein, FOXO1. Surprisingly, overexpression of FOXO1 mitigated 40% of the altered genome-wide effects specifically related to FOXL2C134W, suggesting it can be a new target for aGCT treatment. Conclusions Our transcriptomic data provide novel insights into potential genes (FOXO1 regulated) that could be used as biomarkers of efficacy in aGCT patients.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1826-1840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Erkelenz ◽  
Stephan Theiss ◽  
Wolfgang Kaisers ◽  
Johannes Ptok ◽  
Lara Walotka ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene J. Gardner ◽  
Elena Prigmore ◽  
Giuseppe Gallone ◽  
Petr Danecek ◽  
Kaitlin E. Samocha ◽  
...  

Abstract Mobile genetic Elements (MEs) are segments of DNA which can copy themselves and other transcribed sequences through the process of retrotransposition (RT). In humans several disorders have been attributed to RT, but the role of RT in severe developmental disorders (DD) has not yet been explored. Here we identify RT-derived events in 9738 exome sequenced trios with DD-affected probands. We ascertain 9 de novo MEs, 4 of which are likely causative of the patient’s symptoms (0.04%), as well as 2 de novo gene retroduplications. Beyond identifying likely diagnostic RT events, we estimate genome-wide germline ME mutation rate and selective constraint and demonstrate that coding RT events have signatures of purifying selection equivalent to those of truncating mutations. Overall, our analysis represents a comprehensive interrogation of the impact of retrotransposition on protein coding genes and a framework for future evolutionary and disease studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Victoria Gomez Roldan ◽  
Farhaj Izhaq ◽  
Marion Verdenaud ◽  
John Eleblu ◽  
Aimen Haraghi ◽  
...  

AbstractIn cucurbits, CmWIP1 is a master gene controlling sex determination. To bring new insight in the function of CmWIP1, we investigated two Arabidopsis WIP transcription factors, AtWIP1/TT1 and AtWIP2/NTT. Using an inducible system we showed that WIPs are powerful inhibitor of growth and inducer of cell death. Using ChIP-seq and RNA-seq we revealed that most of the up-regulated genes bound by WIPs display a W-box motif, associated with stress signaling. In contrast, the down-regulated genes contain a GAGA motif, a known target of polycomb repressive complex. To validate the role of WIP proteins in inhibition of growth, we expressed AtWIP1/TT1 in carpel primordia and obtained male flowers, mimicking CmWIP1 function in melon. Using other promoters, we further demonstrated that WIPs can trigger growth arrest of both vegetative and reproductive organs. Our data supports an evolutionary conserved role of WIPs in recruiting gene networks controlling growth and adaptation to stress.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3711
Author(s):  
Melina J. Sedano ◽  
Alana L. Harrison ◽  
Mina Zilaie ◽  
Chandrima Das ◽  
Ramesh Choudhari ◽  
...  

Genome-wide RNA sequencing has shown that only a small fraction of the human genome is transcribed into protein-coding mRNAs. While once thought to be “junk” DNA, recent findings indicate that the rest of the genome encodes many types of non-coding RNA molecules with a myriad of functions still being determined. Among the non-coding RNAs, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) and enhancer RNAs (eRNA) are found to be most copious. While their exact biological functions and mechanisms of action are currently unknown, technologies such as next-generation RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and global nuclear run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) have begun deciphering their expression patterns and biological significance. In addition to their identification, it has been shown that the expression of long non-coding RNAs and enhancer RNAs can vary due to spatial, temporal, developmental, or hormonal variations. In this review, we explore newly reported information on estrogen-regulated eRNAs and lncRNAs and their associated biological functions to help outline their markedly prominent roles in estrogen-dependent signaling.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Li ◽  
Peng Yu

AbstractPsoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the skin, nails, and joints. For understanding the mechanism of psoriasis, though, alternative splicing analysis has received relatively little attention in the field. Here, we developed and applied several computational analysis methods to study psoriasis. Using psoriasis mouse and human datasets, our differential alternative splicing analyses detected hundreds of differential alternative splicing changes. Our analysis of conservation revealed many exon-skipping events conserved between mice and humans. In addition, our splicing signature comparison analysis using the psoriasis datasets and our curated splicing factor perturbation RNA-Seq database, SFMetaDB, identified nine candidate splicing factors that may be important in regulating splicing in the psoriasis mouse model dataset. Three of the nine splicing factors were confirmed upon analyzing the human data. Our computational methods have generated predictions for the potential role of splicing in psoriasis. Future experiments on the novel candidates predicted by our computational analysis are expected to provide a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of psoriasis and to pave the way for new therapeutic treatments.


Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 1381
Author(s):  
Raquel Assis

Nested protein-coding genes accumulated throughout metazoan evolution, with early analyses of human and Drosophila microarray data indicating that this phenomenon was simply due to the presence of large introns. However, a recent study employing RNA-seq data uncovered evidence of transcriptional interference driving rapid expression divergence between Drosophila nested genes, illustrating that accurate expression estimation of overlapping genes can enhance detection of their relationships. Hence, here I apply an analogous approach to strand-specific RNA-seq data from human and mouse to revisit the role of transcriptional interference in the evolution of mammalian nested genes. A genomic survey reveals that whereas mammalian nested genes indeed accrued over evolutionary time, they are retained at lower frequencies than in Drosophila. Though several properties of mammalian nested genes align with observations in Drosophila and with expectations under transcriptional interference, contrary to both, their expression divergence is not statistically different from that between unnested genes, and also does not increase after nesting. Together, these results support the hypothesis that lower selection efficiencies limit rates of gene expression evolution in mammals, leading to their reliance on immediate eradication of deleterious nested genes to avoid transcriptional interference.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Junier ◽  
Olivier Rivoire

Genome-wide measurements of transcriptional activity in bacteria indicate that the transcription of successive genes is strongly correlated beyond the scale of operons. However, the underlying mechanisms are poorly characterized and a systematic method for identifying local groups of co-transcribed genes is lacking. Here, we identify supra-operonic segments of consecutive genes by comparing gene proximity in thousands of bacterial genomes. Structurally, the segments are contained within micro-domains delineated by known nucleoid-associated proteins, and they contain operons with specific relative orientations. Functionally, the operons within a same segment are highly co-transcribed, even in the absence of regulatory factors at their promoter regions. Hence, operons with no common regulatory factor can be co-regulated if they share a regulatory factor at the level of segments. To rationalize these findings, we put forward the hypothesis supported by RNA-seq data that facilitated co-transcription, the feedback of transcription into itself involving only DNA and RNA-polymerases, may represent both an evolutionary primitive and a functionally primary mode of gene regulation.


2020 ◽  
pp. jbc.RA120.015876
Author(s):  
Yating Wang ◽  
Liming Hou ◽  
M. Behfar Ardehali ◽  
Robert E. Kingston ◽  
Brian D Dynlacht

Elongin is an RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-associated factor that has been shown to stimulate transcriptional elongation in vitro. The Elongin complex is thought to be required for transcriptional induction in response to cellular stimuli and to ubiquitinate RNAPII in response to DNA damage. Yet the impact of the Elongin complex on transcription in vivo has not been well studied. Here, we performed comprehensive studies of the role of Elongin A, the largest subunit of the Elongin complex, on RNAPII transcription genome-wide. Our results suggest that Elongin A localizes to actively transcribed regions and potential enhancers, and the level of recruitment correlated with transcription levels. We also identified a large group of factors involved in transcription as Elongin A-associated factors. In addition, we found that loss of Elongin A leads to dramatically reduced levels of Ser2-phosphorylated, but not total, RNAPII, and cells depleted of Elongin A show stronger promoter RNAPII pausing, suggesting that Elongin A may be involved in the release of paused RNAPII. Our RNA-seq studies suggest that loss of Elongin A did not alter global transcription, and unlike prior in vitro studies, we did not observe a dramatic impact on RNAPII elongation rates in our cell-based nascent RNA-seq experiments upon Elongin A depletion. Taken together, our studies provide the first comprehensive analysis of the role of Elongin A in regulating transcription in vivo. Our studies also revealed that unlike prior in vitro findings, depletion of Elongin A has little impact on global transcription profiles and transcription elongation in vivo.


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