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Grinev VV, Ramanouskaya TV, Gloushen SV. Multidimensional control of cell structural robustness. Cell Biol Int 2013; 37:1023-37. [PMID: 23686647 DOI: 10.1002/cbin.10128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2013] [Accepted: 04/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Ample adaptive and functional opportunities of a living cell are determined by the complexity of its structural organisation. However, such complexity gives rise to a problem of maintenance of the coherence of inner processes in macroscopic interims and in macroscopic volumes which is necessary to support the structural robustness of a cell. The solution to this problem lies in multidimensional control of the adaptive and functional changes of a cell as well as its self-renewing processes in the context of environmental conditions. Six mechanisms (principles) form the basis of this multidimensional control: regulatory circuits with feedback loops, redundant inner diversity within a cell, multilevel distributed network organisation of a cell, molecular selection within a cell, continuous informational flows and functioning with a reserve of power. In the review we provide detailed analysis of these mechanisms, discuss their specific functions and the role of the superposition of these mechanisms in the maintenance of cell structural robustness in a wide range of environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vasily V Grinev
- Biology Faculty, Department of Genetics, Belarusian State University, 220030, Minsk, Belarus.
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52
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Abstract
RNA editing is one of the post-transcriptional RNA processes. RNA editing generates RNA and protein diversity in eukaryotes and results in specific amino acid substitutions, deletions, and changes in gene expression levels. Adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing represents the most important class of editing in human and affects function of many genes. The importance of balancing RNA modification levels across time and space is becoming increasingly evident. In this review, we overview the biological significance of RNA editing including RNA editing in tumorigenesis, RNA editing in neuronal tissues, RNA editing as a regulator of gene expression, and RNA editing in dsRNA-mediated gene silencing, which may increase our understanding of RNA biology.
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53
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Two methods for full-length RNA sequencing for low quantities of cells and single cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2012; 110:594-9. [PMID: 23267071 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217322109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 91] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to determine the gene expression pattern in low quantities of cells or single cells is important for resolving a variety of problems in many biological disciplines. A robust description of the expression signature of a single cell requires determination of the full-length sequence of the expressed mRNAs in the cell, yet existing methods have either 3' biased or variable transcript representation. Here, we report our protocols for the amplification and high-throughput sequencing of very small amounts of RNA for sequencing using procedures of either semirandom primed PCR or phi29 DNA polymerase-based DNA amplification, for the cDNA generated with oligo-dT and/or random oligonucleotide primers. Unlike existing methods, these protocols produce relatively uniformly distributed sequences covering the full length of almost all transcripts independent of their sizes, from 1,000 to 10 cells, and even with single cells. Both protocols produced satisfactory detection/coverage of the abundant mRNAs from a single K562 erythroleukemic cell or a single dorsal root ganglion neuron. The phi29-based method produces long products with less noise, uses an isothermal reaction, and is simple to practice. The semirandom primed PCR procedure is more sensitive and reproducible at low transcript levels or with low quantities of cells. These methods provide tools for mRNA sequencing or RNA sequencing when only low quantities of cells, a single cell, or even degraded RNA are available for profiling.
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54
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CTCF regulates Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus latency transcription by nucleosome displacement and RNA polymerase programming. J Virol 2012. [PMID: 23192870 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.02283-12] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) has been implicated in various aspects of viral and host chromatin organization and transcriptional control. We showed previously that CTCF binds to a cluster of three sites in the first intron of the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) multicistronic latency-associated transcript that encodes latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA), viral cyclin (vCyclin), vFLIP, viral microRNAs, and kaposin. We show here that these CTCF binding sites regulate mRNA production, RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) programming, and nucleosome organization of the KSHV latency transcript control region. We also show that KSHV bacmids lacking these CTCF binding sites have elevated and altered ratios of spliced latency transcripts. CTCF binding site mutations altered RNAPII and RNAPII-accessory factor interactions with the latency control region. CTCF binding sites were required for the in vitro recruitment of RNAPII to the latency control region, suggesting that direct interactions between CTCF and RNAPII contribute to transcription regulation. Histone modifications in the latency control region were also altered by mutations in the CTCF binding sites. Finally, we show that CTCF binding alters the regular phasing of nucleosomes in the latency gene transcript and intron, suggesting that nucleosome positioning can be an underlying biochemical mechanism of CTCF function. We propose that RNAPII interactions and nucleosome displacement serve as a biochemical basis for programming RNAPII in the KSHV transcriptional control region.
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55
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Yarus M. Darwinian behavior in a cold, sporadically fed pool of ribonucleotides. ASTROBIOLOGY 2012; 12:870-83. [PMID: 22946838 PMCID: PMC3444769 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2012.0860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2012] [Accepted: 06/29/2012] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
A testable, explicit origin for Darwinian behavior, feasible on a chaotic early Earth, would aid origins discussion. Here I show that a pool receiving unreliable supplies of unstable ribonucleotide precursors can recurrently fill this role. By using numerical integration, the differential equations governing a sporadically fed pool are solved, yielding quantitative constraints for the proliferation of molecules that also have a chemical phenotype. For example, templated triphosphate nucleotide joining is >10(4) too slow, suggesting that a group more reactive than pyrophosphate activated primordial nucleotides. However, measured literature rates are sufficient if the Initial Darwinian Ancestor (IDA) resembles a 5'-5' cofactor-like dinucleotide RNA, synthesized via activation with a phosphorimidazolide-like group. A sporadically fed pool offers unforeseen advantages; for example, the pool hosts a novel replicator which is predominantly unpaired, even though it replicates. Such free template is optimized for effective selection during its replication. Pool nucleotides are also subject to a broadly based selection that impels the population toward replication, effective selection, and Darwinian behavior. Such a primordial pool may have left detectable modern traces. A sporadically fed ribonucleotide pool also fits a recognizable early Earth environment, has recognizable modern descendants, and suits the early shape of the phylogenetic tree of Earthly life. Finally, analysis points to particular data now needed to refine the hypothesis. Accordingly, a kinetically explicit chemical hypothesis for a terran IDA can be justified, and informative experiments seem readily accessible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Yarus
- Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0347, USA.
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56
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Mukherjee C, Patil DP, Kennedy BA, Bakthavachalu B, Bundschuh R, Schoenberg DR. Identification of cytoplasmic capping targets reveals a role for cap homeostasis in translation and mRNA stability. Cell Rep 2012; 2:674-84. [PMID: 22921400 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2012.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2012] [Revised: 06/20/2012] [Accepted: 07/26/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The notion that decapping leads irreversibly to messenger RNA (mRNA) decay was contradicted by the identification of capped transcripts missing portions of their 5' ends and a cytoplasmic complex that can restore the cap on uncapped mRNAs. In this study, we used accumulation of uncapped transcripts in cells inhibited for cytoplasmic capping to identify the targets of this pathway. Inhibition of cytoplasmic capping results in the destabilization of some transcripts and the redistribution of others from polysomes to nontranslating messenger ribonucleoproteins, where they accumulate in an uncapped state. Only a portion of the mRNA transcriptome is affected by cytoplasmic capping, and its targets encode proteins involved in nucleotide binding, RNA and protein localization, and the mitotic cell cycle. The 3' untranslated regions of recapping targets are enriched for AU-rich elements and microRNA binding sites, both of which function in cap-dependent mRNA silencing. These findings identify a cyclical process of decapping and recapping that we term cap homeostasis.
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57
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Ferron F, Decroly E, Selisko B, Canard B. The viral RNA capping machinery as a target for antiviral drugs. Antiviral Res 2012; 96:21-31. [PMID: 22841701 PMCID: PMC7114304 DOI: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2012.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2012] [Revised: 07/09/2012] [Accepted: 07/13/2012] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Most viruses modify their genomic and mRNA 5′-ends with the addition of an RNA cap, allowing efficient mRNA translation, limiting degradation by cellular 5′–3′ exonucleases, and avoiding its recognition as foreign RNA by the host cell. Viral RNA caps can be synthesized or acquired through the use of a capping machinery which exhibits a significant diversity in organization, structure and mechanism relative to that of their cellular host. Therefore, viral RNA capping has emerged as an interesting field for antiviral drug design. Here, we review the different pathways and mechanisms used to produce viral mRNA 5′-caps, and present current structures, mechanisms, and inhibitors known to act on viral RNA capping.
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Affiliation(s)
- François Ferron
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 7257, Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, 163 Avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France
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58
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Abstract
In this issue of Molecular Cell, Brannan et al. (2012) propose a novel function for RNA-decapping and transcription termination in aborting "divergent" promoter-proximal elongation complexes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Reines
- Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
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59
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Gu SQ, Bakthavachalu B, Han J, Patil DP, Otsuka Y, Guda C, Schoenberg DR. Identification of the human PMR1 mRNA endonuclease as an alternatively processed product of the gene for peroxidasin-like protein. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2012; 18:1186-1196. [PMID: 22543864 PMCID: PMC3358641 DOI: 10.1261/rna.031369.111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2011] [Accepted: 03/07/2012] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The PMR1 endonuclease was discovered in Xenopus liver and identified as a member of the large and diverse peroxidase gene family. The peroxidase genes arose from multiple duplication and rearrangement events, and their high degree of sequence similarity confounded attempts to identify human PMR1. The functioning of PMR1 in mRNA decay depends on the phosphorylation of a tyrosine in the C-terminal polysome targeting domain by c-Src. The sequences of regions that are required for c-Src binding and phosphorylation of Xenopus PMR1 were used to inform a bioinformatics search that identified two related genes as potential candidates for human PMR1: peroxidasin homolog (PXDN) and peroxidasin homolog-like (PXDNL) protein. Although each of these genes is predicted to encode a large, multidomain membrane-bound peroxidase, alternative splicing of PXDNL pre-mRNA yields a transcript whose predicted product is a 57-kDa protein with 42% sequence identity to Xenopus PMR1. Results presented here confirm the existence of the predicted 57-kDa protein, show this is the only form of PXDNL detected in any of the human cell lines examined, and confirm its identity as human PMR1. Like the Xenopus protein, human PMR1 binds to c-Src, is tyrosine phosphorylated, sediments on polysomes, and catalyzes the selective decay of a PMR1 substrate mRNA. Importantly, the expression of human PMR1 stimulates cell motility in a manner similar to that of the Xenopus PMR1 expressed in human cells, thus providing definitive evidence linking endonuclease decay to the regulation of cell motility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan-Qing Gu
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
| | - Baskar Bakthavachalu
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
| | - Joonhee Han
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
| | - Deepak P. Patil
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
| | - Yuichi Otsuka
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
| | - Chittibabu Guda
- Center for Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska 68118-5145, USA
| | - Daniel R. Schoenberg
- Center for RNA Biology
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210-1218, USA
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60
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Balagopal V, Fluch L, Nissan T. Ways and means of eukaryotic mRNA decay. BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-GENE REGULATORY MECHANISMS 2012; 1819:593-603. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbagrm.2012.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2011] [Revised: 12/29/2011] [Accepted: 01/03/2012] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
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61
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Xiao T, Wang Y, Luo H, Liu L, Wei G, Chen X, Sun Y, Chen X, Skogerbø G, Chen R. A differential sequencing-based analysis of the C. elegans noncoding transcriptome. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2012; 18:626-639. [PMID: 22345127 PMCID: PMC3312551 DOI: 10.1261/rna.030965.111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2011] [Accepted: 12/22/2011] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Noncoding RNAs are increasingly being recognized as important players in eukaryote biology. However, despite major efforts in mapping the Caenorhabditis elegans transcriptome over the last couple of years, nonpolyadenylated and intermediate-size noncoding RNAs (is-ncRNAs) are still incompletely explored. We have combined an enzymatic approach with full-length RNA-Seq of is-ncRNAs in C. elegans. A total of 473 novel is-ncRNAs has been identified, of which a substantial fraction was associated with transcription factor binding sites and developmentally regulated expression patterns. Analysis of sequence and secondary structure permitted classification of more than 200 is-ncRNAs into several known RNA classes, while another 33 is-ncRNAs were identified as belonging to two previously uncharacterized groups of is-ncRNAs. Three of the unclassified is-ncRNAs contain the 5' Alu domain common to SRP RNAs and specifically bound with the SRP9/14 heterodimer in vitro. One of these (inc394) showed 65% sequence identity with the human, neuron-specific BC200 RNA. Structure-based clustering analysis and in vitro binding experiments supported the notion that the nematode stem-bulge RNAs (sbRNAs) are homologs (or functional analogs) of the Y RNAs. Moreover, analysis of the differential libraries showed that some mature snoRNAs undergo secondary 5' cap modification after processing of the primary transcript, thus suggesting the existence of a wider range of functional RNAs arising from processed and modified fragments of primary transcripts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengfei Xiao
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Yunfei Wang
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Huaxia Luo
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Lihui Liu
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Guifeng Wei
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Xiaowei Chen
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Yu Sun
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
- Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Xiaomin Chen
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Geir Skogerbø
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Runsheng Chen
- Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Noncoding RNA, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
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62
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Metazoan promoters: emerging characteristics and insights into transcriptional regulation. Nat Rev Genet 2012; 13:233-45. [PMID: 22392219 DOI: 10.1038/nrg3163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 340] [Impact Index Per Article: 28.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Promoters are crucial for gene regulation. They vary greatly in terms of associated regulatory elements, sequence motifs, the choice of transcription start sites and other features. Several technologies that harness next-generation sequencing have enabled recent advances in identifying promoters and their features, helping researchers who are investigating functional categories of promoters and their modes of regulation. Additional features of promoters that are being characterized include types of histone modifications, nucleosome positioning, RNA polymerase pausing and novel small RNAs. In this Review, we discuss recent findings relating to metazoan promoters and how these findings are leading to a revised picture of what a gene promoter is and how it works.
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63
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Decroly E, Ferron F, Lescar J, Canard B. Conventional and unconventional mechanisms for capping viral mRNA. Nat Rev Microbiol 2011; 10:51-65. [PMID: 22138959 PMCID: PMC7097100 DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro2675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 328] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
mRNAs are protected at their 5′ ends by a cap structure consisting of an N7-methylated GTP molecule linked to the first transcribed nucleotide by a 5′–5′ triphosphate bond. The cap structure is essential for RNA splicing, export and stability, and allows the ribosomal complex to recognize mRNAs and ensure their efficient translation. Uncapped RNA molecules are degraded in cytoplasmic granular compartments called processing bodies and may be detected as 'non-self' by the host cell, triggering antiviral innate immune responses through the production of interferons. Conventional RNA capping (that is, of mRNAs from the host cell and from DNA viruses) requires hydrolysis of the 5′ γ-phosphate of RNA by an RNA triphosphatase, transfer of a GMP molecule onto the 5′-end of RNA by a guanylyltransferase, and methylation of this guanosine by an (guanine-N7)-methyltransferase. Subsequent methylations on the first and second transcribed nucleotides by (nucleoside-2′-O)-methyltransferases form cap-1 and cap-2 structures. Viruses have evolved highly diverse capping mechanisms to acquire cap structures using their own or cellular capping machineries, or by stealing cap structures from cellular mRNAs. Virally encoded RNA-capping machineries are diverse in terms of their genetic components, protein domain organization, enzyme structures, and reaction mechanisms and pathways, making viral RNA capping an attractive target for antiviral-drug design.
Capping the 5′ end of eukaryotic mRNAs with a 7-methylguanosine moiety enables efficient splicing, nuclear export and translation of mRNAs, and also limits their degradation by cellular exonucleases. Here, Canard and colleagues describe how viruses synthesize their own mRNA cap structures or steal them from host mRNAs, allowing efficient synthesis of viral proteins and avoidance of host innate immune responses. In the eukaryotic cell, capping of mRNA 5′ ends is an essential structural modification that allows efficient mRNA translation, directs pre-mRNA splicing and mRNA export from the nucleus, limits mRNA degradation by cellular 5′–3′ exonucleases and allows recognition of foreign RNAs (including viral transcripts) as 'non-self'. However, viruses have evolved mechanisms to protect their RNA 5′ ends with either a covalently attached peptide or a cap moiety (7-methyl-Gppp, in which p is a phosphate group) that is indistinguishable from cellular mRNA cap structures. Viral RNA caps can be stolen from cellular mRNAs or synthesized using either a host- or virus-encoded capping apparatus, and these capping assemblies exhibit a wide diversity in organization, structure and mechanism. Here, we review the strategies used by viruses of eukaryotic cells to produce functional mRNA 5′-caps and escape innate immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Etienne Decroly
- Centre National de Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille Université, UMR 6098, Architecture et Fonction des Macromolécules Biologiques, 163 avenue de Luminy, 13288 Marseille cedex 09, France
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64
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Helsens K, Van Damme P, Degroeve S, Martens L, Arnesen T, Vandekerckhove J, Gevaert K. Bioinformatics analysis of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae N-terminal proteome provides evidence of alternative translation initiation and post-translational N-terminal acetylation. J Proteome Res 2011; 10:3578-89. [PMID: 21619078 DOI: 10.1021/pr2002325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Initiation of protein translation is a well-studied fundamental process, albeit high-throughput and more comprehensive determination of the exact translation initiation sites (TIS) was only recently made possible following the introduction of positional proteomics techniques that target protein N-termini. Precise translation initiation is of crucial importance, as truncated or extended proteins might fold, function, and locate erroneously. Still, as already shown for some proteins, alternative translation initiation can also serve as a regulatory mechanism. By applying N-terminal COFRADIC (combined fractional diagonal chromatography), we here isolated N-terminal peptides of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae proteome and analyzed both annotated and alternative TIS. We analyzed this N-terminome of S. cerevisiae which resulted in the identification of 650 unique N-terminal peptides corresponding to database annotated TIS. Furthermore, 56 unique N(α)-acetylated peptides were identified that suggest alternative TIS (MS/MS-based), while MS-based evidence of N(α)-acetylation led to an additional 33 such peptides. To improve the overall sensitivity of the analysis, we also included the 5' UTR (untranslated region) in-frame translations together with the yeast protein sequences in UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot. To ensure the quality of the individual peptide identifications, peptide-to-spectrum matches were only accepted at a 99% probability threshold and were subsequently analyzed in detail by the Peptizer tool to automatically ascertain their compliance with several expert criteria. Furthermore, we have also identified 60 MS/MS-based and 117 MS-based N(α)-acetylated peptides that point to N(α)-acetylation as a post-translational modification since these peptides did not start nor were preceded (in their corresponding protein sequence) by a methionine residue. Next, we evaluated consensus sequence features of nucleic acids and amino acids across each of these groups of peptides and evaluated the results in the context of publicly available data. Taken together, we present a list of 706 annotated and alternative TIS for yeast proteins and found that under normal growth conditions alternative TIS might (co)occur in S. cerevisiae in roughly one tenth of all proteins. Furthermore, we found that the nucleic acid and amino acid features proximate to these alternative TIS favor either guanine or adenine nucleotides following the start codon or acidic amino acids following the initiator methionine. Finally, we also observed an unexpected high number of N(α)-acetylated peptides that could not be related to TIS and therefore suggest events of post-translational N(α)-acetylation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenny Helsens
- Department of Medical Protein Research, VIB, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
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65
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Yarus M. Getting past the RNA world: the initial Darwinian ancestor. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2011; 3:cshperspect.a003590. [PMID: 20719875 DOI: 10.1101/cshperspect.a003590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
A little-noted result of the confirmation of multiple premises of the RNA-world hypothesis is that we now know something about the dawn organisms that followed the origin of life, perhaps over 4 billion years ago. We are therefore in an improved position to reason about the biota just before RNA times, during the era of the first replicators, the first Darwinian creatures on Earth. An RNA congener still prominent in modern biology is a plausible descendent of these first replicators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Yarus
- Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.
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66
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Bracken CP, Szubert JM, Mercer TR, Dinger ME, Thomson DW, Mattick JS, Michael MZ, Goodall GJ. Global analysis of the mammalian RNA degradome reveals widespread miRNA-dependent and miRNA-independent endonucleolytic cleavage. Nucleic Acids Res 2011; 39:5658-68. [PMID: 21427086 PMCID: PMC3141239 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkr110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The Ago2 component of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) is an endonuclease that cleaves mRNAs that base pair with high complementarity to RISC-bound microRNAs. Many examples of such direct cleavage have been identified in plants, but not in vertebrates, despite the conservation of catalytic capacity in vertebrate Ago2. We performed parallel analysis of RNA ends (PAREs), a deep sequencing approach that identifies 5'-phosphorylated, polyadenylated RNAs, to detect potential microRNA-directed mRNA cleavages in mouse embryo and adult tissues. We found that numerous mRNAs are potentially targeted for cleavage by endogenous microRNAs, but at very low levels relative to the mRNA abundance, apart from miR-151-5p-guided cleavage of the N4BP1 mRNA. We also find numerous examples of non-miRNA-directed cleavage, including cleavage of a group of mRNAs within a CA-repeat consensus sequence. The PARE analysis also identified many examples of adenylated small non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs, tRNA processing intermediates and various other small RNAs, consistent with adenylation being part of a widespread proof-reading and/or degradation pathway for small RNAs.
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67
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Yamashita R, Sathira NP, Kanai A, Tanimoto K, Arauchi T, Tanaka Y, Hashimoto SI, Sugano S, Nakai K, Suzuki Y. Genome-wide characterization of transcriptional start sites in humans by integrative transcriptome analysis. Genome Res 2011; 21:775-89. [PMID: 21372179 DOI: 10.1101/gr.110254.110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 100] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
We performed a genome-wide analysis of transcriptional start sites (TSSs) in human genes by multifaceted use of a massively parallel sequencer. By analyzing 800 million sequences that were obtained from various types of transcriptome analyses, we characterized 140 million TSS tags in 12 human cell types. Despite the large number of TSS clusters (TSCs), the number of TSCs was observed to decrease sharply with increasing expression levels. Highly expressed TSCs exhibited several characteristic features: Nucleosome-seq analysis revealed highly ordered nucleosome structures, ChIP-seq analysis detected clear RNA polymerase II binding signals in their surrounding regions, evaluations of previously sequenced and newly shotgun-sequenced complete cDNA sequences showed that they encode preferable transcripts for protein translation, and RNA-seq analysis of polysome-incorporated RNAs yielded direct evidence that those transcripts are actually translated into proteins. We also demonstrate that integrative interpretation of transcriptome data is essential for the selection of putative alternative promoter TSCs, two of which also have protein consequences. Furthermore, discriminative chromatin features that separate TSCs at different expression levels were found for both genic TSCs and intergenic TSCs. The collected integrative information should provide a useful basis for future biological characterization of TSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riu Yamashita
- Frontier Research Initiative, Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639, Japan
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68
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Hoskins RA, Landolin JM, Brown JB, Sandler JE, Takahashi H, Lassmann T, Yu C, Booth BW, Zhang D, Wan KH, Yang L, Boley N, Andrews J, Kaufman TC, Graveley BR, Bickel PJ, Carninci P, Carlson JW, Celniker SE. Genome-wide analysis of promoter architecture in Drosophila melanogaster. Genome Res 2010; 21:182-92. [PMID: 21177961 DOI: 10.1101/gr.112466.110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 167] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Core promoters are critical regions for gene regulation in higher eukaryotes. However, the boundaries of promoter regions, the relative rates of initiation at the transcription start sites (TSSs) distributed within them, and the functional significance of promoter architecture remain poorly understood. We produced a high-resolution map of promoters active in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo by integrating data from three independent and complementary methods: 21 million cap analysis of gene expression (CAGE) tags, 1.2 million RNA ligase mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE) reads, and 50,000 cap-trapped expressed sequence tags (ESTs). We defined 12,454 promoters of 8037 genes. Our analysis indicates that, due to non-promoter-associated RNA background signal, previous studies have likely overestimated the number of promoter-associated CAGE clusters by fivefold. We show that TSS distributions form a complex continuum of shapes, and that promoters active in the embryo and adult have highly similar shapes in 95% of cases. This suggests that these distributions are generally determined by static elements such as local DNA sequence and are not modulated by dynamic signals such as histone modifications. Transcription factor binding motifs are differentially enriched as a function of promoter shape, and peaked promoter shape is correlated with both temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression. Our results contribute to the emerging view that core promoters are functionally diverse and control patterning of gene expression in Drosophila and mammals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roger A Hoskins
- Department of Genome Dynamics, Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 97420, USA
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69
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Mercer TR, Dinger ME, Bracken CP, Kolle G, Szubert JM, Korbie DJ, Askarian-Amiri ME, Gardiner BB, Goodall GJ, Grimmond SM, Mattick JS. Regulated post-transcriptional RNA cleavage diversifies the eukaryotic transcriptome. Genome Res 2010; 20:1639-50. [PMID: 21045082 DOI: 10.1101/gr.112128.110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The complexity of the eukaryotic transcriptome is generated by the interplay of transcription initiation, termination, alternative splicing, and other forms of post-transcriptional modification. It was recently shown that RNA transcripts may also undergo cleavage and secondary 5' capping. Here, we show that post-transcriptional cleavage of RNA contributes to the diversification of the transcriptome by generating a range of small RNAs and long coding and noncoding RNAs. Using genome-wide histone modification and RNA polymerase II occupancy data, we confirm that the vast majority of intraexonic CAGE tags are derived from post-transcriptional processing. By comparing exonic CAGE tags to tissue-matched PARE data, we show that the cleavage and subsequent secondary capping is regulated in a developmental-stage- and tissue-specific manner. Furthermore, we find evidence of prevalent RNA cleavage in numerous transcriptomic data sets, including SAGE, cDNA, small RNA libraries, and deep-sequenced size-fractionated pools of RNA. These cleavage products include mRNA variants that retain the potential to be translated into shortened functional protein isoforms. We conclude that post-transcriptional RNA cleavage is a key mechanism that expands the functional repertoire and scope for regulatory control of the eukaryotic transcriptome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tim R Mercer
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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70
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Sun H, Wu J, Wickramasinghe P, Pal S, Gupta R, Bhattacharyya A, Agosto-Perez FJ, Showe LC, Huang THM, Davuluri RV. Genome-wide mapping of RNA Pol-II promoter usage in mouse tissues by ChIP-seq. Nucleic Acids Res 2010; 39:190-201. [PMID: 20843783 PMCID: PMC3017616 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkq775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Alternative promoters that are differentially used in various cellular contexts and tissue types add to the transcriptional complexity in mammalian genome. Identification of alternative promoters and the annotation of their activity in different tissues is one of the major challenges in understanding the transcriptional regulation of the mammalian genes and their isoforms. To determine the use of alternative promoters in different tissues, we performed ChIP-seq experiments using antibody against RNA Pol-II, in five adult mouse tissues (brain, liver, lung, spleen and kidney). Our analysis identified 38 639 Pol-II promoters, including 12 270 novel promoters, for both protein coding and non-coding mouse genes. Of these, 6384 promoters are tissue specific which are CpG poor and we find that only 34% of the novel promoters are located in CpG-rich regions, suggesting that novel promoters are mostly tissue specific. By identifying the Pol-II bound promoter(s) of each annotated gene in a given tissue, we found that 37% of the protein coding genes use alternative promoters in the five mouse tissues. The promoter annotations and ChIP-seq data presented here will aid ongoing efforts of characterizing gene regulatory regions in mammalian genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Sun
- Center for Systems and Computational Biology, Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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71
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López-Lastra M, Ramdohr P, Letelier A, Vallejos M, Vera-Otarola J, Valiente-Echeverría F. Translation initiation of viral mRNAs. Rev Med Virol 2010; 20:177-95. [PMID: 20440748 PMCID: PMC7169124 DOI: 10.1002/rmv.649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Viruses depend on cells for their replication but have evolved mechanisms to achieve this in an efficient and, in some instances, a cell‐type‐specific manner. The expression of viral proteins is frequently subject to translational control. The dominant target of such control is the initiation step of protein synthesis. Indeed, during the early stages of infection, viral mRNAs must compete with their host counterparts for the protein synthetic machinery, especially for the limited pool of eukaryotic translation initiation factors (eIFs) that mediate the recruitment of ribosomes to both viral and cellular mRNAs. To circumvent this competition viruses use diverse strategies so that ribosomes can be recruited selectively to viral mRNAs. In this review we focus on the initiation of protein synthesis and outline some of the strategies used by viruses to ensure efficient translation initiation of their mRNAs. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcelo López-Lastra
- Laboratorio de Virología Molecular, Instituto Milenio de Inmunología e Inmunoterapia, Centro de Investigaciones Médicas, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Marcoleta 391, Santiago, Chile.
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72
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Gowda M, Nunes CC, Sailsbery J, Xue M, Chen F, Nelson CA, Brown DE, Oh Y, Meng S, Mitchell T, Hagedorn CH, Dean RA. Genome-wide characterization of methylguanosine-capped and polyadenylated small RNAs in the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Nucleic Acids Res 2010; 38:7558-69. [PMID: 20660015 PMCID: PMC2995040 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkq583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Small RNAs are well described in higher eukaryotes such as mammals and plants; however, knowledge in simple eukaryotes such as filamentous fungi is limited. In this study, we discovered and characterized methylguanosine-capped and polyadenylated small RNAs (CPA-sRNAs) by using differential RNA selection, full-length cDNA cloning and 454 transcriptome sequencing of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. This fungus causes blast, a devastating disease on rice, the principle food staple for over half the world’s population. CPA-sRNAs mapped primarily to the transcription initiation and termination sites of protein-coding genes and were positively correlated with gene expression, particularly for highly expressed genes including those encoding ribosomal proteins. Numerous CPA-sRNAs also mapped to rRNAs, tRNAs, snRNAs, transposable elements and intergenic regions. Many other 454 sequence reads could not be mapped to the genome; however, inspection revealed evidence for non-template additions and chimeric sequences. CPA-sRNAs were independently confirmed using a high affinity variant of eIF-4E to capture 5′-methylguanosine-capped RNA followed by 3′-RACE sequencing. These results expand the repertoire of small RNAs in filamentous fungi.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malali Gowda
- Fungal Genomics Laboratory, Center for Integrated Fungal Research, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA
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73
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Ni T, Corcoran DL, Rach EA, Song S, Spana EP, Gao Y, Ohler U, Zhu J. A paired-end sequencing strategy to map the complex landscape of transcription initiation. Nat Methods 2010; 7:521-7. [PMID: 20495556 PMCID: PMC3197272 DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.1464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 119] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2009] [Accepted: 04/21/2010] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Recent high-throughput sequencing protocols have uncovered the complexity of mammalian transcription by RNA polymerase II, helping to define several initiation patterns in which transcription start sites (TSSs) cluster within both narrow and broad genomic windows. Here, we describe a paired-end sequencing strategy, which enables more robust mapping and characterization of capped transcripts. This strategy was applied to explore the transcription initiation landscape in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Extending the previous findings in mammals, we found that fly promoters exhibit distinct initiation patterns, which are linked to specific promoter sequence motifs. Furthermore, we identified a large number of 5′ capped transcripts originating from coding exons; analyses support that they are unlikely the result of alternative TSSs, but rather the product of post-transcriptional modifications. Taken together, paired-end TSS analysis is demonstrated to be a powerful method to uncover the transcriptional complexity of eukaryotic genomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ting Ni
- Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA
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