1
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Liu X, Xie H, Liu W, Zuo J, Li S, Tian Y, Zhao J, Bai M, Li J, Bao L, Han J, Zhang ZC. Dynamic regulation of alternative polyadenylation by PQBP1 during neurogenesis. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114525. [PMID: 39037895 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2024] [Revised: 06/07/2024] [Accepted: 07/08/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is a critical post-transcriptional process that generates mRNA isoforms with distinct 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs), thereby regulating mRNA localization, stability, and translational efficiency. Cell-type-specific APA extensively shapes the diversity of the cellular transcriptome, particularly during cell fate transition. Despite its recognized significance, the precise regulatory mechanisms governing cell-type-specific APA remain unclear. In this study, we uncover PQBP1 as an emerging APA regulator that actively maintains cell-specific APA profiles in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) and delicately manages the equilibrium between NPC proliferation and differentiation. Multi-omics analysis shows that PQBP1 directly interacts with the upstream UGUA elements, impeding the recruitment of the CFIm complex and influencing polyadenylation site selection within genes associated with the cell cycle. Our findings elucidate the molecular mechanism by which PQBP1 orchestrates dynamic APA changes during neurogenesis, providing valuable insights into the precise regulation of cell-type-specific APA and the underlying pathogenic mechanisms in neurodevelopmental disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xian Liu
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Hao Xie
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Wenhua Liu
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Jian Zuo
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Song Li
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | - Yao Tian
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
| | | | - Meizhu Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Jinsong Li
- State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Lan Bao
- State Key Laboratory of Cell Biology, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China
| | - Junhai Han
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China; Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong 226019, China.
| | - Zi Chao Zhang
- School of Life Science and Technology, The Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Basic Medicine Research and Innovation Center of Ministry of Education, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
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2
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Hu Z, Li M, Chen Y, Chen L, Han Y, Chen C, Lu X, You N, Lou Y, Huang Y, Huo Z, Liu C, Liang C, Liu S, Deng K, Chen L, Chen S, Wan G, Wu X, Fu Y, Xu A. Disruption of PABPN1 phase separation by SNRPD2 drives colorectal cancer cell proliferation and migration through promoting alternative polyadenylation of CTNNBIP1. SCIENCE CHINA. LIFE SCIENCES 2024; 67:1212-1225. [PMID: 38811444 DOI: 10.1007/s11427-023-2495-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Generally shortened 3' UTR due to alternative polyadenylation (APA) is widely observed in cancer, but its regulation mechanisms for cancer are not well characterized. Here, with profiling of APA in colorectal cancer tissues and poly(A) signal editing, we firstly identified that the shortened 3' UTR of CTNNIBP1 in colorectal cancer promotes cell proliferation and migration. We found that liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) of PABPN1 is reduced albeit with higher expression in cancer, and the reduction of LLPS leads to the shortened 3' UTR of CTNNBIP1 and promotes cell proliferation and migration. Notably, the splicing factor SNRPD2 upregulated in colorectal cancer, can interact with glutamic-proline (EP) domain of PABPN1, and then disrupt LLPS of PABPN1, which attenuates the repression effect of PABPN1 on the proximal poly(A) sites. Our results firstly reveal a new regulation mechanism of APA by disruption of LLPS of PABPN1, suggesting that regulation of APA by interfering LLPS of 3' end processing factor may have the potential as a new way for the treatment of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijie Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Mengxia Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Yufeng Chen
- Department of General Surgery (Colorectal Surgery) & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Diseases & Biomedical Innovation Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China
| | - Liutao Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Yuting Han
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Chengyong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Xin Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Nan You
- National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Druggability and New Drug Evaluation, National Engineering Research Center for New Drug and Druggability (cultivation), Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Yawen Lou
- National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Druggability and New Drug Evaluation, National Engineering Research Center for New Drug and Druggability (cultivation), Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Yingye Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Zhanfeng Huo
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Chao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Cheng Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Susu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Ke Deng
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Liangfu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Shangwu Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China
| | - Guohui Wan
- National-Local Joint Engineering Laboratory of Druggability and New Drug Evaluation, National Engineering Research Center for New Drug and Druggability (cultivation), Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of New Drug Design and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Xiaojian Wu
- Department of General Surgery (Colorectal Surgery) & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Colorectal and Pelvic Floor Diseases & Biomedical Innovation Center, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510655, China.
| | - Yonggui Fu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
| | - Anlong Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Functional Genes, Department of Biochemistry, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China.
- School of Life Sciences, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, 100029, China.
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3
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Torres-Ulloa L, Calvo-Roitberg E, Pai AA. Genome-wide kinetic profiling of pre-mRNA 3' end cleavage. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2024; 30:256-270. [PMID: 38164598 PMCID: PMC10870368 DOI: 10.1261/rna.079783.123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024]
Abstract
Cleavage and polyadenylation is necessary for the formation of mature mRNA molecules. The rate at which this process occurs can determine the temporal availability of mRNA for subsequent function throughout the cell and is likely tightly regulated. Despite advances in high-throughput approaches for global kinetic profiling of RNA maturation, genome-wide 3' end cleavage rates have never been measured. Here, we describe a novel approach to estimate the rates of cleavage, using metabolic labeling of nascent RNA, high-throughput sequencing, and mathematical modeling. Using in silico simulations of nascent RNA-seq data, we show that our approach can accurately and precisely estimate cleavage half-lives for both constitutive and alternative sites. We find that 3' end cleavage is fast on average, with half-lives under a minute, but highly variable across individual sites. Rapid cleavage is promoted by the presence of canonical sequence elements and an increased density of polyadenylation signals near a cleavage site. Finally, we find that cleavage rates are associated with the localization of RNA polymerase II at the end of a gene, and faster cleavage leads to quicker degradation of downstream readthrough RNA. Our findings shed light on the features important for efficient 3' end cleavage and the regulation of transcription termination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leslie Torres-Ulloa
- RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
| | - Ezequiel Calvo-Roitberg
- RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
| | - Athma A Pai
- RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA
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4
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Shiferaw HK, Hong CS, Cooper DN, Johnston JJ, NISC, Biesecker LG. Genome-wide identification of dominant polyadenylation hexamers for use in variant classification. Hum Mol Genet 2023; 32:3211-3224. [PMID: 37606238 PMCID: PMC10656703 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddad136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 08/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Polyadenylation is an essential process for the stabilization and export of mRNAs to the cytoplasm and the polyadenylation signal hexamer (herein referred to as hexamer) plays a key role in this process. Yet, only 14 Mendelian disorders have been associated with hexamer variants. This is likely an under-ascertainment as hexamers are not well defined and not routinely examined in molecular analysis. To facilitate the interrogation of putatively pathogenic hexamer variants, we set out to define functionally important hexamers genome-wide as a resource for research and clinical testing interrogation. We identified predominant polyA sites (herein referred to as pPAS) and putative predominant hexamers across protein coding genes (PAS usage >50% per gene). As a measure of the validity of these sites, the population constraint of 4532 predominant hexamers were measured. The predominant hexamers had fewer observed variants compared to non-predominant hexamers and trimer controls, and CADD scores for variants in these hexamers were significantly higher than controls. Exome data for 1477 individuals were interrogated for hexamer variants and transcriptome data were generated for 76 individuals with 65 variants in predominant hexamers. 3' RNA-seq data showed these variants resulted in alternate polyadenylation events (38%) and in elongated mRNA transcripts (12%). Our list of pPAS and predominant hexamers are available in the UCSC genome browser and on GitHub. We suggest this list of predominant hexamers can be used to interrogate exome and genome data. Variants in these predominant hexamers should be considered candidates for pathogenic variation in human disease, and to that end we suggest pathogenicity criteria for classifying hexamer variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Henoke K Shiferaw
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Celine S Hong
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - David N Cooper
- Institute of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4XN, United Kingdom
| | - Jennifer J Johnston
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - NISC
- NIH Intramural Sequencing Center, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
| | - Leslie G Biesecker
- Center for Precision Health Research, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, 50 South Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892, United States
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5
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Cui Y, Wang L, Ding Q, Shin J, Cassel J, Liu Q, Salvino JM, Tian B. Elevated pre-mRNA 3' end processing activity in cancer cells renders vulnerability to inhibition of cleavage and polyadenylation. Nat Commun 2023; 14:4480. [PMID: 37528120 PMCID: PMC10394034 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39793-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA) is responsible for 3' end processing of eukaryotic poly(A)+ RNAs and preludes transcriptional termination. JTE-607, which targets CPSF-73, is the first known CPA inhibitor (CPAi) in mammalian cells. Here we show that JTE-607 perturbs gene expression through both transcriptional readthrough and alternative polyadenylation (APA). Sensitive genes are associated with features similar to those previously identified for PCF11 knockdown, underscoring a unified transcriptomic signature of CPAi. The degree of inhibition of an APA site by JTE-607 correlates with its usage level and, consistently, cells with elevated CPA activities, such as those with induced overexpression of FIP1, display greater transcriptomic disturbances when treated with JTE-607. Moreover, JTE-607 causes S phase crisis and is hence synergistic with inhibitors of DNA damage repair pathways. Together, our data reveal CPA activity and proliferation rate as determinants of CPAi-mediated cell death, raising the possibility of using CPAi as an adjunct therapy to suppress certain cancers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yange Cui
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, and Center for Systems and Computational Biology, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Luyang Wang
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, and Center for Systems and Computational Biology, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Qingbao Ding
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, and Center for Systems and Computational Biology, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Jihae Shin
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Joel Cassel
- Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Qin Liu
- Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Joseph M Salvino
- Molecular and Cellular Oncogenesis Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Bin Tian
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, and Center for Systems and Computational Biology, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA.
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6
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Slight Variations in the Sequence Downstream of the Polyadenylation Signal Significantly Increase Transgene Expression in HEK293T and CHO Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms232415485. [PMID: 36555130 PMCID: PMC9779314 DOI: 10.3390/ijms232415485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 11/28/2022] [Accepted: 12/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Compared to transcription initiation, much less is known about transcription termination. In particular, large-scale mutagenesis studies have, so far, primarily concentrated on promoter and enhancer, but not terminator sequences. Here, we used a massively parallel reporter assay (MPRA) to systematically analyze the influence of short (8 bp) sequence variants (mutations) located downstream of the polyadenylation signal (PAS) on the steady-state mRNA level of the upstream gene, employing an eGFP reporter and human HEK293T cells as a model system. In total, we evaluated 227,755 mutations located at different overlapping positions within +17..+56 bp downstream of the PAS for their ability to regulate the reporter gene expression. We found that the positions +17..+44 bp downstream of the PAS are more essential for gene upregulation than those located more distal to the PAS, and that the mutation sequences ensuring high levels of eGFP mRNA expression are extremely T-rich. Next, we validated the positive effect of a couple of mutations identified in the MPRA screening on the eGFP and luciferase protein expression. The most promising mutation increased the expression of the reporter proteins 13-fold and sevenfold on average in HEK293T and CHO cells, respectively. Overall, these findings might be useful for further improving the efficiency of production of therapeutic products, e.g., recombinant antibodies.
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7
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Linder J, Koplik SE, Kundaje A, Seelig G. Deciphering the impact of genetic variation on human polyadenylation using APARENT2. Genome Biol 2022; 23:232. [PMID: 36335397 PMCID: PMC9636789 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-022-02799-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 10/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND 3'-end processing by cleavage and polyadenylation is an important and finely tuned regulatory process during mRNA maturation. Numerous genetic variants are known to cause or contribute to human disorders by disrupting the cis-regulatory code of polyadenylation signals. Yet, due to the complexity of this code, variant interpretation remains challenging. RESULTS We introduce a residual neural network model, APARENT2, that can infer 3'-cleavage and polyadenylation from DNA sequence more accurately than any previous model. This model generalizes to the case of alternative polyadenylation (APA) for a variable number of polyadenylation signals. We demonstrate APARENT2's performance on several variant datasets, including functional reporter data and human 3' aQTLs from GTEx. We apply neural network interpretation methods to gain insights into disrupted or protective higher-order features of polyadenylation. We fine-tune APARENT2 on human tissue-resolved transcriptomic data to elucidate tissue-specific variant effects. By combining APARENT2 with models of mRNA stability, we extend aQTL effect size predictions to the entire 3' untranslated region. Finally, we perform in silico saturation mutagenesis of all human polyadenylation signals and compare the predicted effects of [Formula: see text] million variants against gnomAD. While loss-of-function variants were generally selected against, we also find specific clinical conditions linked to gain-of-function mutations. For example, we detect an association between gain-of-function mutations in the 3'-end and autism spectrum disorder. To experimentally validate APARENT2's predictions, we assayed clinically relevant variants in multiple cell lines, including microglia-derived cells. CONCLUSIONS A sequence-to-function model based on deep residual learning enables accurate functional interpretation of genetic variants in polyadenylation signals and, when coupled with large human variation databases, elucidates the link between functional 3'-end mutations and human health.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Anshul Kundaje
- Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
- Department of Computer Science, Stanford University, Stanford, USA
| | - Georg Seelig
- Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
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8
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Caggiano C, Pieraccioli M, Pitolli C, Babini G, Zheng D, Tian B, Bielli P, Sette C. The androgen receptor couples promoter recruitment of RNA processing factors to regulation of alternative polyadenylation at the 3' end of transcripts. Nucleic Acids Res 2022; 50:9780-9796. [PMID: 36043441 PMCID: PMC9508809 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkac737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 08/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Prostate cancer (PC) relies on androgen receptor (AR) signaling. While hormonal therapy (HT) is efficacious, most patients evolve to an incurable castration-resistant stage (CRPC). To date, most proposed mechanisms of acquired resistance to HT have focused on AR transcriptional activity. Herein, we uncover a new role for the AR in alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA). Inhibition of the AR by Enzalutamide globally regulates APA in PC cells, with specific enrichment in genes related to transcription and DNA topology, suggesting their involvement in transcriptome reprogramming. AR inhibition selects promoter-distal polyadenylation sites (pAs) enriched in cis-elements recognized by the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF) complex. Conversely, promoter-proximal intronic pAs relying on the cleavage stimulation factor (CSTF) complex are repressed. Mechanistically, Enzalutamide induces rearrangement of APA subcomplexes and impairs the interaction between CPSF and CSTF. AR inhibition also induces co-transcriptional CPSF recruitment to gene promoters, predisposing the selection of pAs depending on this complex. Importantly, the scaffold CPSF160 protein is up-regulated in CRPC cells and its depletion represses HT-induced APA patterns. These findings uncover an unexpected role for the AR in APA regulation and suggest that APA-mediated transcriptome reprogramming represents an adaptive response of PC cells to HT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cinzia Caggiano
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Human Anatomy, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli, Rome 00168, Italy
| | - Marco Pieraccioli
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Human Anatomy, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli, Rome 00168, Italy
| | - Consuelo Pitolli
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Human Anatomy, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli, Rome 00168, Italy
| | | | - Dinghai Zheng
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
| | - Bin Tian
- Gene Expression and Regulation Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Pamela Bielli
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome 00133, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Santa Lucia, Rome 00143, Italy
| | - Claudio Sette
- Department of Neuroscience, Section of Human Anatomy, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome 00168, Italy.,IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli, Rome 00168, Italy
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9
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Pereira-Castro I, Garcia BC, Curinha A, Neves-Costa A, Conde-Sousa E, Moita LF, Moreira A. MCL1 alternative polyadenylation is essential for cell survival and mitochondria morphology. Cell Mol Life Sci 2022; 79:164. [PMID: 35229202 PMCID: PMC11072748 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-022-04172-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 01/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation in the 3' UTR (3' UTR-APA) is a mode of gene expression regulation, fundamental for mRNA stability, translation and localization. In the immune system, it was shown that upon T cell activation, there is an increase in the relative expression of mRNA isoforms with short 3' UTRs resulting from 3' UTR-APA. However, the functional significance of 3' UTR-APA remains largely unknown. Here, we studied the physiological function of 3' UTR-APA in the regulation of Myeloid Cell Leukemia 1 (MCL1), an anti-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family essential for T cell survival. We found that T cells produce two MCL1 mRNA isoforms (pA1 and pA2) by 3' UTR-APA. We show that upon T cell activation, there is an increase in both the shorter pA1 mRNA isoform and MCL1 protein levels. Moreover, the less efficiently translated pA2 isoform is downregulated by miR-17, which is also more expressed upon T cell activation. Therefore, by increasing the expression of the more efficiently translated pA1 mRNA isoform, which escapes regulation by miR-17, 3' UTR-APA fine tunes MCL1 protein levels, critical for activated T cells' survival. Furthermore, using CRISPR/Cas9-edited cells, we show that depletion of either pA1 or pA2 mRNA isoforms causes severe defects in mitochondria morphology, increases apoptosis and impacts cell proliferation. Collectively, our results show that MCL1 alternative polyadenylation has a key role in the regulation of MCL1 protein levels upon T cell activation and reveal an essential function for MCL1 3' UTR-APA in cell viability and mitochondria dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Pereira-Castro
- Gene Regulation, i3S, Instituto de Investigação E Inovação Em Saúde, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
- Gene Regulation, IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular E Celular, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
| | - Beatriz C Garcia
- Gene Regulation, i3S, Instituto de Investigação E Inovação Em Saúde, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Gene Regulation, IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular E Celular, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Ana Curinha
- Gene Regulation, IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular E Celular, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, John Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | | | - Eduardo Conde-Sousa
- i3S, Instituto de Investigação E Inovação Em Saúde, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal
- INEB, Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Luís F Moita
- Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Alexandra Moreira
- Gene Regulation, i3S, Instituto de Investigação E Inovação Em Saúde, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
- Gene Regulation, IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular E Celular, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
- ICBAS, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade Do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
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10
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Zingone A, Sinha S, Ante M, Nguyen C, Daujotyte D, Bowman ED, Sinha N, Mitchell KA, Chen Q, Yan C, Loher P, Meerzaman D, Ruppin E, Ryan BM. A comprehensive map of alternative polyadenylation in African American and European American lung cancer patients. Nat Commun 2021; 12:5605. [PMID: 34556645 PMCID: PMC8460807 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-25763-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Deciphering the post-transcriptional mechanisms (PTM) regulating gene expression is critical to understand the dynamics underlying transcriptomic regulation in cancer. Alternative polyadenylation (APA)-regulation of mRNA 3'UTR length by alternating poly(A) site usage-is a key PTM mechanism whose comprehensive analysis in cancer remains an important open challenge. Here we use a method and analysis pipeline that sequences 3'end-enriched RNA directly to overcome the saturation limitation of traditional 5'-3' based sequencing. We comprehensively map the APA landscape in lung cancer in a cohort of 98 tumor/non-involved tissues derived from European American and African American patients. We identify a global shortening of 3'UTR transcripts in lung cancer, with notable functional implications on the expression of both coding and noncoding genes. We find that APA of non-coding RNA transcripts (long non-coding RNAs and microRNAs) is a recurrent event in lung cancer and discover that the selection of alternative polyA sites is a form of non-coding RNA expression control. Our results indicate that mRNA transcripts from EAs are two times more likely than AAs to undergo APA in lung cancer. Taken together, our findings comprehensively map and identify the important functional role of alternative polyadenylation in determining transcriptomic heterogeneity in lung cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adriana Zingone
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, US
| | - Sanju Sinha
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, US
- Cancer Data Science Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, US
| | - Michael Ante
- Lexogen GmbH, Campus Vienna Biocenter 5, 1030, Vienna, Austria
- Ares Genetics GmbH, Karl-Farkas-Gasse 18, 1030, Vienna, Austria
| | - Cu Nguyen
- Computational Genomics Research, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, US
| | - Dalia Daujotyte
- Lexogen GmbH, Campus Vienna Biocenter 5, 1030, Vienna, Austria
| | - Elise D Bowman
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, US
| | - Neelam Sinha
- Cancer Data Science Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, US
| | - Khadijah A Mitchell
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, US
| | - Qingrong Chen
- Computational Genomics Research, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, US
| | - Chunhua Yan
- Computational Genomics Research, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, US
| | - Phillipe Loher
- Computational Medicine Center, Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, 19017, US
| | - Daoud Meerzaman
- Computational Genomics Research, Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology (CBIIT), National Cancer Institute, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD, 20850, US
| | - Eytan Ruppin
- Cancer Data Science Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, US
| | - Bríd M Ryan
- Laboratory of Human Carcinogenesis, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, 20892, US.
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11
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Adenine base editing of the DUX4 polyadenylation signal for targeted genetic therapy in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy. MOLECULAR THERAPY. NUCLEIC ACIDS 2021; 25:342-354. [PMID: 34484861 PMCID: PMC8399085 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2021.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is caused by chromatin relaxation of the D4Z4 repeat resulting in misexpression of the D4Z4-encoded DUX4 gene in skeletal muscle. One of the key genetic requirements for the stable production of full-length DUX4 mRNA in skeletal muscle is a functional polyadenylation signal (ATTAAA) in exon three of DUX4 that is used in somatic cells. Base editors hold great promise to treat DNA lesions underlying genetic diseases through their ability to carry out specific and rapid nucleotide mutagenesis even in postmitotic cells such as skeletal muscle. In this study, we present a simple and straightforward strategy for mutagenesis of the somatic DUX4 polyadenylation signal by adenine base editing in immortalized myoblasts derived from independent FSHD-affected individuals. We show that mutating this critical cis-regulatory element results in downregulation of DUX4 mRNA and its direct transcriptional target genes. Our findings identify the somatic DUX4 polyadenylation signal as a therapeutic target and represent the first step toward clinical application of the CRISPR-Cas9 base editing platform for FSHD gene therapy.
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12
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Mora Gallardo C, Sánchez de Diego A, Martínez-A C, van Wely KHM. Interplay between splicing and transcriptional pausing exerts genome-wide control over alternative polyadenylation. Transcription 2021; 12:55-71. [PMID: 34365909 PMCID: PMC8555548 DOI: 10.1080/21541264.2021.1959244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have identified multiple polyadenylation sites in nearly all mammalian genes. Although these are interpreted as evidence for alternative polyadenylation, our knowledge of the underlying mechanisms is still limited. Most studies only consider the immediate surroundings of gene ends, even though in vitro experiments have uncovered the involvement of external factors such as splicing. Whereas in vivo splicing manipulation was impracticable until recently, we now used mutants in the Death Inducer Obliterator (DIDO) gene to study their impact on 3ʹ end processing. We observe multiple rounds of readthrough and gene fusions, suggesting that no arbitration between polyadenylation sites occurs. Instead, a window of opportunity seems to control end processing. Through the identification of T-rich sequence motifs, our data indicate that splicing and transcriptional pausing interact to regulate alternative polyadenylation. We propose that 3ʹ splice site activation comprises a variable timer, which determines how long transcription proceeds before polyadenylation signals are recognized. Thus, the role of core polyadenylation signals could be more passive than commonly believed. Our results provide new insights into the mechanisms of alternative polyadenylation and expand the catalog of related aberrations. Abbreviations APA: alternative polyadenylation; bp: basepair; MEF: mouse embryonic fibroblasts; PA: polyadenylation; PAS: polyadenylation site; Pol II: (RNA) polymerase II ; RT-PCR:reverse-transcriptase PCR; SF:splicing factor; SFPQ:splicing factor rich in proline and glutamine; SS:splice site; TRSM:Thymidine rich sequence motif; UTR:untranslated terminal region
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmen Mora Gallardo
- Department of Immunology and Oncology Centro Nacional De Biotecnología (CNB)/, CSIC Darwin 3, Campus UAM Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
| | - Ainhoa Sánchez de Diego
- Department of Immunology and Oncology Centro Nacional De Biotecnología (CNB)/, CSIC Darwin 3, Campus UAM Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carlos Martínez-A
- Department of Immunology and Oncology Centro Nacional De Biotecnología (CNB)/, CSIC Darwin 3, Campus UAM Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
| | - Karel H M van Wely
- Department of Immunology and Oncology Centro Nacional De Biotecnología (CNB)/, CSIC Darwin 3, Campus UAM Cantoblanco, Madrid, Spain
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13
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Farhat DC, Bowler MW, Communie G, Pontier D, Belmudes L, Mas C, Corrao C, Couté Y, Bougdour A, Lagrange T, Hakimi MA, Swale C. A plant-like mechanism coupling m6A reading to polyadenylation safeguards transcriptome integrity and developmental gene partitioning in Toxoplasma. eLife 2021; 10:68312. [PMID: 34263725 PMCID: PMC8313237 DOI: 10.7554/elife.68312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2021] [Accepted: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Correct 3’end processing of mRNAs is one of the regulatory cornerstones of gene expression. In a parasite that must adapt to the regulatory requirements of its multi-host life style, there is a need to adopt additional means to partition the distinct transcriptional signatures of the closely and tandemly arranged stage-specific genes. In this study, we report our findings in T. gondii of an m6A-dependent 3’end polyadenylation serving as a transcriptional barrier at these loci. We identify the core polyadenylation complex within T. gondii and establish CPSF4 as a reader for m6A-modified mRNAs, via a YTH domain within its C-terminus, a feature which is shared with plants. We bring evidence of the specificity of this interaction both biochemically, and by determining the crystal structure at high resolution of the T. gondii CPSF4-YTH in complex with an m6A-modified RNA. We show that the loss of m6A, both at the level of its deposition or its recognition is associated with an increase in aberrantly elongated chimeric mRNAs emanating from impaired transcriptional termination, a phenotype previously noticed in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana. Nanopore direct RNA sequencing shows the occurrence of transcriptional read-through breaching into downstream repressed stage-specific genes, in the absence of either CPSF4 or the m6A RNA methylase components in both T. gondii and A. thaliana. Taken together, our results shed light on an essential regulatory mechanism coupling the pathways of m6A metabolism directly to the cleavage and polyadenylation processes, one that interestingly seem to serve, in both T. gondii and A. thaliana, as a guardian against aberrant transcriptional read-throughs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dayana C Farhat
- IAB,Team Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infection, INSERMU1209, CNRSUMR5309, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
| | | | | | - Dominique Pontier
- Laboratoire Génome et Développement des Plantes (LGDP), UMR5096, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Perpignan via Domitia (UPVD), Perpignan, France
| | - Lucid Belmudes
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INSERM, CEA, UMR BioSanté U1292, CNRS, CEA, Grenoble, France
| | - Caroline Mas
- Integrated Structural Biology Grenoble (ISBG) CNRS, CEA, Université Grenoble Alpes, EMBL, Grenoble, France
| | - Charlotte Corrao
- IAB,Team Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infection, INSERMU1209, CNRSUMR5309, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
| | - Yohann Couté
- Univ. Grenoble Alpes, INSERM, CEA, UMR BioSanté U1292, CNRS, CEA, Grenoble, France
| | - Alexandre Bougdour
- IAB,Team Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infection, INSERMU1209, CNRSUMR5309, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
| | - Thierry Lagrange
- Laboratoire Génome et Développement des Plantes (LGDP), UMR5096, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Université de Perpignan via Domitia (UPVD), Perpignan, France
| | - Mohamed-Ali Hakimi
- IAB,Team Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infection, INSERMU1209, CNRSUMR5309, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
| | - Christopher Swale
- IAB,Team Host-Pathogen Interactions & Immunity to Infection, INSERMU1209, CNRSUMR5309, Grenoble Alpes University, Grenoble, France
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14
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Pereira-Castro I, Moreira A. On the function and relevance of alternative 3'-UTRs in gene expression regulation. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-RNA 2021; 12:e1653. [PMID: 33843145 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2021] [Revised: 03/15/2021] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Messanger RNA (mRNA) isoforms with alternative 3'-untranslated regions (3'-UTRs) are produced by alternative polyadenylation (APA), which occurs during transcription in most eukaryotic genes. APA fine-tunes gene expression in a cell-type- and cellular state-dependent manner. Selection of an APA site entails the binding of core cleavage and polyadenylation factors to a particular polyadenylation site localized in the pre-mRNA and is controlled by multiple regulatory determinants, including transcription, pre-mRNA cis-regulatory sequences, and protein factors. Alternative 3'-UTRs serve as platforms for specific RNA binding proteins and microRNAs, which regulate gene expression in a coordinated manner by controlling mRNA fate and function in the cell. Genome-wide studies illustrated the full extent of APA prevalence and revealed that specific 3'-UTR profiles are associated with particular cellular states and diseases. Generally, short 3'-UTRs are associated with proliferative and cancer cells, and long 3'-UTRs are mostly found in polarized and differentiated cells. Fundamental new insights on the physiological consequences of this widespread event and the molecular mechanisms involved have been revealed through single-cell studies. Publicly available comprehensive databases that cover all APA mRNA isoforms identified in many cellular states and diseases reveal specific APA signatures. Therapies tackling APA mRNA isoforms or APA regulators may be regarded as innovative and attractive tools for diagnostics or treatment of several pathologies. We highlight the function of APA and alternative 3'-UTRs in gene expression regulation, the control of these mechanisms, their physiological consequences, and their potential use as new biomarkers and therapeutic tools. This article is categorized under: RNA Processing > 3' End Processing RNA Interactions with Proteins and Other Molecules > Protein-RNA Interactions: Functional Implications RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabel Pereira-Castro
- Gene Regulation, i3S, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
| | - Alexandra Moreira
- Gene Regulation, i3S, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,IBMC, Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.,ICBAS, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
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15
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Alternative Polyadenylation: a new frontier in post transcriptional regulation. Biomark Res 2020; 8:67. [PMID: 33292571 PMCID: PMC7690165 DOI: 10.1186/s40364-020-00249-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Polyadenylation of pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) specific sites and termination of their downstream transcriptions are signaled by unique sequence motif structures such as AAUAAA and its auxiliary elements. Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism that processes RNA products depending on its 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) specific sequence signal. APA processing can generate several mRNA isoforms from a single gene, which may have different biological functions on their target gene. As a result, cellular genomic stability, proliferation capability, and transformation feasibility could all be affected. Furthermore, APA modulation regulates disease initiation and progression. APA status could potentially act as a biomarker for disease diagnosis, severity stratification, and prognosis forecast. While the advance of modern throughout technologies, such as next generation-sequencing (NGS) and single-cell sequencing techniques, have enriched our knowledge about APA, much of APA biological process is unknown and pending for further investigation. Herein, we review the current knowledge on APA and how its regulatory complex factors (CFI/IIm, CPSF, CSTF, and RBPs) work together to determine RNA splicing location, cell cycle velocity, microRNA processing, and oncogenesis regulation. We also discuss various APA experiment strategies and the future direction of APA research.
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16
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Nourse J, Spada S, Danckwardt S. Emerging Roles of RNA 3'-end Cleavage and Polyadenylation in Pathogenesis, Diagnosis and Therapy of Human Disorders. Biomolecules 2020; 10:biom10060915. [PMID: 32560344 PMCID: PMC7356254 DOI: 10.3390/biom10060915] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2020] [Revised: 06/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
A crucial feature of gene expression involves RNA processing to produce 3′ ends through a process termed 3′ end cleavage and polyadenylation (CPA). This ensures the nascent RNA molecule can exit the nucleus and be translated to ultimately give rise to a protein which can execute a function. Further, alternative polyadenylation (APA) can produce distinct transcript isoforms, profoundly expanding the complexity of the transcriptome. CPA is carried out by multi-component protein complexes interacting with multiple RNA motifs and is tightly coupled to transcription, other steps of RNA processing, and even epigenetic modifications. CPA and APA contribute to the maintenance of a multitude of diverse physiological processes. It is therefore not surprising that disruptions of CPA and APA can lead to devastating disorders. Here, we review potential CPA and APA mechanisms involving both loss and gain of function that can have tremendous impacts on health and disease. Ultimately we highlight the emerging diagnostic and therapeutic potential CPA and APA offer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie Nourse
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany; (J.N.); (S.S.)
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Stefano Spada
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany; (J.N.); (S.S.)
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
| | - Sven Danckwardt
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany; (J.N.); (S.S.)
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, 55131 Mainz, Germany
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Rhine-Main, Germany
- Correspondence:
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17
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Vainberg Slutskin I, Weinberger A, Segal E. Sequence determinants of polyadenylation-mediated regulation. Genome Res 2019; 29:1635-1647. [PMID: 31530582 PMCID: PMC6771402 DOI: 10.1101/gr.247312.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2018] [Accepted: 08/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
The cleavage and polyadenylation reaction is a crucial step in transcription termination and pre-mRNA maturation in human cells. Despite extensive research, the encoding of polyadenylation-mediated regulation of gene expression within the DNA sequence is not well understood. Here, we utilized a massively parallel reporter assay to inspect the effect of over 12,000 rationally designed polyadenylation sequences (PASs) on reporter gene expression and cleavage efficiency. We find that the PAS sequence can modulate gene expression by over five orders of magnitude. By using a uniquely designed scanning mutagenesis data set, we gain mechanistic insight into various modes of action by which the cleavage efficiency affects the sensitivity or robustness of the PAS to mutation. Furthermore, we employ motif discovery to identify both known and novel sequence motifs associated with PAS-mediated regulation. By leveraging the large scale of our data, we train a deep learning model for the highly accurate prediction of RNA levels from DNA sequence alone (R = 0.83). Moreover, we devise unique approaches for predicting exact cleavage sites for our reporter constructs and for endogenous transcripts. Taken together, our results expand our understanding of PAS-mediated regulation, and provide an unprecedented resource for analyzing and predicting PAS for regulatory genomics applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya Vainberg Slutskin
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.,Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Adina Weinberger
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.,Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
| | - Eran Segal
- Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.,Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel
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18
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Cell Cycle Kinase Polo Is Controlled by a Widespread 3' Untranslated Region Regulatory Sequence in Drosophila melanogaster. Mol Cell Biol 2019; 39:MCB.00581-18. [PMID: 31085682 DOI: 10.1128/mcb.00581-18] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation generates transcriptomic diversity, although the physiological impact and regulatory mechanisms involved are still poorly understood. The cell cycle kinase Polo is controlled by alternative polyadenylation in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR), with critical physiological consequences. Here, we characterized the molecular mechanisms required for polo alternative polyadenylation. We identified a conserved upstream sequence element (USE) close to the polo proximal poly(A) signal. Transgenic flies without this sequence show incorrect selection of polo poly(A) signals with consequent downregulation of Polo expression levels and insufficient/defective activation of Polo kinetochore targets Mps1 and Aurora B. Deletion of the USE results in abnormal mitoses in neuroblasts, revealing a role for this sequence in vivo We found that Hephaestus binds to the USE RNA and that hephaestus mutants display defects in polo alternative polyadenylation concomitant with a striking reduction in Polo protein levels, leading to mitotic errors and aneuploidy. Bioinformatic analyses show that the USE is preferentially localized upstream of noncanonical polyadenylation signals in Drosophila melanogaster genes. Taken together, our results revealed the molecular mechanisms involved in polo alternative polyadenylation, with remarkable physiological functions in Polo expression and activity at the kinetochores, and disclosed a new in vivo function for USEs in Drosophila melanogaster.
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19
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Doulazmi M, Cros C, Dusart I, Trembleau A, Dubacq C. Alternative polyadenylation produces multiple 3' untranslated regions of odorant receptor mRNAs in mouse olfactory sensory neurons. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:577. [PMID: 31299892 PMCID: PMC6624953 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5927-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 06/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Odorant receptor genes constitute the largest gene family in mammalian genomes and this family has been extensively studied in several species, but to date far less attention has been paid to the characterization of their mRNA 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs). Given the increasing importance of UTRs in the understanding of RNA metabolism, and the growing interest in alternative polyadenylation especially in the nervous system, we aimed at identifying the alternative isoforms of odorant receptor mRNAs generated through 3'UTR variation. RESULTS We implemented a dedicated pipeline using IsoSCM instead of Cufflinks to analyze RNA-Seq data from whole olfactory mucosa of adult mice and obtained an extensive description of the 3'UTR isoforms of odorant receptor mRNAs. To validate our bioinformatics approach, we exhaustively analyzed the 3'UTR isoforms produced from 2 pilot genes, using molecular approaches including northern blot and RNA ligation mediated polyadenylation test. Comparison between datasets further validated the pipeline and confirmed the alternative polyadenylation patterns of odorant receptors. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the annotated 3' regions demonstrate that 1) Odorant receptor 3'UTRs are longer than previously described in the literature; 2) More than 77% of odorant receptor mRNAs are subject to alternative polyadenylation, hence generating at least 2 detectable 3'UTR isoforms; 3) Splicing events in 3'UTRs are restricted to a limited subset of odorant receptor genes; and 4) Comparison between male and female data shows no sex-specific differences in odorant receptor 3'UTR isoforms. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrated for the first time that odorant receptor genes are extensively subject to alternative polyadenylation. This ground-breaking change to the landscape of 3'UTR isoforms of Olfr mRNAs opens new avenues for investigating their respective functions, especially during the differentiation of olfactory sensory neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohamed Doulazmi
- CNRS, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Biological adaptation and ageing, B2A, Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Cyril Cros
- CNRS, INSERM, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Neuroscience Paris Seine, NPS, Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
- Present Address: Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA
| | - Isabelle Dusart
- CNRS, INSERM, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Neuroscience Paris Seine, NPS, Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Alain Trembleau
- CNRS, INSERM, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Neuroscience Paris Seine, NPS, Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
| | - Caroline Dubacq
- CNRS, INSERM, Institut de Biologie Paris Seine, Neuroscience Paris Seine, NPS, Sorbonne Université, F-75005 Paris, France
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20
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Cheng JK, Morse NJ, Wagner JM, Tucker SK, Alper HS. Design and Evaluation of Synthetic Terminators for Regulating Mammalian Cell Transgene Expression. ACS Synth Biol 2019; 8:1263-1275. [PMID: 31091408 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.8b00285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Tuning heterologous gene expression in mammalian production hosts has predominantly relied upon engineering the promoter elements driving the transcription of the transgene. Moreover, most regulatory elements have borrowed genetic sequences from viral elements. Here, we generate a set of 10 rational and 30 synthetic terminators derived from nonviral elements and evaluate them in the HT1080 and HEK293 cell lines to demonstrate that they are comparable in terms of tuning gene expression/protein output to the viral SV40 element and often require less sequence footprint. The mode of action of these terminators is determined to be an increase in mRNA half-life. Furthermore, we demonstrate that constructs comprising completely nonviral regulatory elements ( i.e., promoters and terminators) can outperform commonly used, strong viral based elements by nearly 2-fold. Ultimately, this novel set of terminators expanded our genetic toolkit for engineering mammalian host cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph K. Cheng
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E Dean Keeton Street, Stop C0400, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Nicholas J. Morse
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E Dean Keeton Street, Stop C0400, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - James M. Wagner
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E Dean Keeton Street, Stop C0400, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Scott K. Tucker
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway Avenue, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Hal S. Alper
- McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 200 E Dean Keeton Street, Stop C0400, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
- Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 2500 Speedway Avenue, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
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21
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Zhou X, Zhang Y, Michal JJ, Qu L, Zhang S, Wildung MR, Du W, Pouchnik DJ, Zhao H, Xia Y, Shi H, Ji G, Davis JF, Smith GD, Griswold MD, Harland RM, Jiang Z. Alternative polyadenylation coordinates embryonic development, sexual dimorphism and longitudinal growth in Xenopus tropicalis. Cell Mol Life Sci 2019; 76:2185-2198. [PMID: 30729254 PMCID: PMC6597005 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-019-03036-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2018] [Revised: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
RNA alternative polyadenylation contributes to the complexity of information transfer from genome to phenome, thus amplifying gene function. Here, we report the first X. tropicalis resource with 127,914 alternative polyadenylation (APA) sites derived from embryos and adults. Overall, APA networks play central roles in coordinating the maternal-zygotic transition (MZT) in embryos, sexual dimorphism in adults and longitudinal growth from embryos to adults. APA sites coordinate reprogramming in embryos before the MZT, but developmental events after the MZT due to zygotic genome activation. The APA transcriptomes of young adults are more variable than growing adults and male frog APA transcriptomes are more divergent than females. The APA profiles of young females were similar to embryos before the MZT. Enriched pathways in developing embryos were distinct across the MZT and noticeably segregated from adults. Briefly, our results suggest that the minimal functional units in genomes are alternative transcripts as opposed to genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang Zhou
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA
- College of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China
| | - Yangzi Zhang
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA
| | - Jennifer J Michal
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA
| | - Lujiang Qu
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA
- College of Animal Sciences and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
| | - Shuwen Zhang
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA
| | - Mark R Wildung
- Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis, Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Weiwei Du
- Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis, Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Derek J Pouchnik
- Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis, Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Hui Zhao
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Yin Xia
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Honghua Shi
- State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
| | - Guoli Ji
- Department of Automation, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China
| | - Jon F Davis
- Department of Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Gary D Smith
- Departments of OB/GYN, Physiology, and Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Michael D Griswold
- Laboratory for Biotechnology and Bioanalysis, Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA
| | - Richard M Harland
- Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Zhihua Jiang
- Department of Animal Sciences and Center for Reproductive Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164-7620, USA.
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22
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Ganapathi Sankaran D, Stemm-Wolf AJ, Pearson CG. CEP135 isoform dysregulation promotes centrosome amplification in breast cancer cells. Mol Biol Cell 2019; 30:1230-1244. [PMID: 30811267 PMCID: PMC6724517 DOI: 10.1091/mbc.e18-10-0674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Revised: 02/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The centrosome, composed of two centrioles surrounded by pericentriolar material, is the cell's central microtubule-organizing center. Centrosome duplication is coupled with the cell cycle such that centrosomes duplicate once in S phase. Loss of such coupling produces supernumerary centrosomes, a condition called centrosome amplification (CA). CA promotes cell invasion and chromosome instability, two hallmarks of cancer. We examined the contribution of centriole overduplication to CA and the consequences for genomic stability in breast cancer cells. CEP135, a centriole assembly protein, is dysregulated in some breast cancers. We previously identified a short isoform of CEP135, CEP135mini, that represses centriole duplication. Here, we show that the relative level of full-length CEP135 (CEP135full) to CEP135mini (the CEP135full:mini ratio) is increased in breast cancer cell lines with high CA. Inducing expression of CEP135full in breast cancer cells increases the frequency of CA, multipolar spindles, anaphase-lagging chromosomes, and micronuclei. Conversely, inducing expression of CEP135mini reduces centrosome number. The differential expression of the CEP135 isoforms in vivo is generated by alternative polyadenylation. Directed genetic mutations near the CEP135mini alternative polyadenylation signal reduces the CEP135full:mini ratio and decreases CA. We conclude that dysregulation of CEP135 isoforms promotes centriole overduplication and contributes to chromosome segregation errors in breast cancer cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya Ganapathi Sankaran
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045-2537
| | - Alexander J. Stemm-Wolf
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045-2537
| | - Chad G. Pearson
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO 80045-2537
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23
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Polyadenylation sites and their characteristics in the genome of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) as revealed by using RNA-Seq data. COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY D-GENOMICS & PROTEOMICS 2019; 30:248-255. [PMID: 30952021 DOI: 10.1016/j.cbd.2019.03.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2019] [Revised: 03/24/2019] [Accepted: 03/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Polyadenylation plays important roles in gene expression regulation in eukaryotes, which typically involves cleavage and poly(A) tail addition at the polyadenylation site (PAS) of the pre-mature mRNA. Many eukaryotic genes contain more than one PASs, termed as alternative polyadenylation (APA). As a crucial post-transcriptional regulation, polyadenylation affects various aspects of RNA metabolism such as mRNA stability, translocation, and translation. However, polyadenylation has been rarely studied in teleosts. Here we conducted polyadenylation analysis in channel catfish, a commercially important aquaculture species around the world. Using RNA-Seq data, we identified 20,320 PASs which were classified into 14,500 clusters by merging adjacent PASs. Most of the PASs were found in 3' UTRs, followed by intron regions based on the annotation of channel catfish reference genome. No apparent difference in PAS distribution was observed between the sense and antisense strand of the channel catfish genome. The sequence analysis of nucleotide composition and motif around PASs yielded a highly similar profile among various organisms, suggesting the conservation and importance of polyadenylation in evolution. Using APA genes with more than two PASs, gene ontology enrichment revealed genes particularly involved in RNA binding. Reactome pathway analysis showed the enrichment of the innate immune system, especially neutrophil degranulation.
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24
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Wang R, Zheng D, Yehia G, Tian B. A compendium of conserved cleavage and polyadenylation events in mammalian genes. Genome Res 2018; 28:1427-1441. [PMID: 30143597 PMCID: PMC6169888 DOI: 10.1101/gr.237826.118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Cleavage and polyadenylation is essential for 3' end processing of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. Recent studies have shown widespread alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) events leading to mRNA isoforms with different 3' UTRs and/or coding sequences. Here, we present a compendium of conserved cleavage and polyadenylation sites (PASs) in mammalian genes, based on approximately 1.2 billion 3' end sequencing reads from more than 360 human, mouse, and rat samples. We show that ∼80% of mammalian mRNA genes contain at least one conserved PAS, and ∼50% have conserved APA events. PAS conservation generally reduces promiscuous 3' end processing, stabilizing gene expression levels across species. Conservation of APA correlates with gene age, gene expression features, and gene functions. Genes with certain functions, such as cell morphology, cell proliferation, and mRNA metabolism, are particularly enriched with conserved APA events. Whereas tissue-specific genes typically have a low APA rate, brain-specific genes tend to evolve APA. In addition, we show enrichment of mRNA destabilizing motifs in alternative 3' UTR sequences, leading to substantial differences in mRNA stability between 3' UTR isoforms. Using conserved PASs, we reveal sequence motifs surrounding APA sites and a preference of adenosine at the cleavage site. Furthermore, we show that mutations of U-rich motifs around the PAS often accompany APA profile differences between species. Analysis of lncRNA PASs indicates a mechanism of PAS fixation through evolution of A-rich motifs. Taken together, our results present a comprehensive view of PAS evolution in mammals, and a phylogenic perspective on APA functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruijia Wang
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Dinghai Zheng
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Ghassan Yehia
- Genome Editing Core Facility, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA
| | - Bin Tian
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
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25
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Wang R, Zheng D, Yehia G, Tian B. A compendium of conserved cleavage and polyadenylation events in mammalian genes. Genome Res 2018. [PMID: 30143597 DOI: 10.1101/gr.237826.118.28] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/17/2023]
Abstract
Cleavage and polyadenylation is essential for 3' end processing of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. Recent studies have shown widespread alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) events leading to mRNA isoforms with different 3' UTRs and/or coding sequences. Here, we present a compendium of conserved cleavage and polyadenylation sites (PASs) in mammalian genes, based on approximately 1.2 billion 3' end sequencing reads from more than 360 human, mouse, and rat samples. We show that ∼80% of mammalian mRNA genes contain at least one conserved PAS, and ∼50% have conserved APA events. PAS conservation generally reduces promiscuous 3' end processing, stabilizing gene expression levels across species. Conservation of APA correlates with gene age, gene expression features, and gene functions. Genes with certain functions, such as cell morphology, cell proliferation, and mRNA metabolism, are particularly enriched with conserved APA events. Whereas tissue-specific genes typically have a low APA rate, brain-specific genes tend to evolve APA. In addition, we show enrichment of mRNA destabilizing motifs in alternative 3' UTR sequences, leading to substantial differences in mRNA stability between 3' UTR isoforms. Using conserved PASs, we reveal sequence motifs surrounding APA sites and a preference of adenosine at the cleavage site. Furthermore, we show that mutations of U-rich motifs around the PAS often accompany APA profile differences between species. Analysis of lncRNA PASs indicates a mechanism of PAS fixation through evolution of A-rich motifs. Taken together, our results present a comprehensive view of PAS evolution in mammals, and a phylogenic perspective on APA functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ruijia Wang
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Dinghai Zheng
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Ghassan Yehia
- Genome Editing Core Facility, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA
| | - Bin Tian
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
- Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
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26
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Targeting the Polyadenylation Signal of Pre-mRNA: A New Gene Silencing Approach for Facioscapulohumeral Dystrophy. Int J Mol Sci 2018; 19:ijms19051347. [PMID: 29751519 PMCID: PMC5983732 DOI: 10.3390/ijms19051347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2018] [Revised: 04/27/2018] [Accepted: 04/30/2018] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) is characterized by the contraction of the D4Z4 array located in the sub-telomeric region of the chromosome 4, leading to the aberrant expression of the DUX4 transcription factor and the mis-regulation of hundreds of genes. Several therapeutic strategies have been proposed among which the possibility to target the polyadenylation signal to silence the causative gene of the disease. Indeed, defects in mRNA polyadenylation leads to an alteration of the transcription termination, a disruption of mRNA transport from the nucleus to the cytoplasm decreasing the mRNA stability and translation efficiency. This review discusses the polyadenylation mechanisms, why alternative polyadenylation impacts gene expression, and how targeting polyadenylation signal may be a potential therapeutic approach for FSHD.
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27
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Afik S, Bartok O, Artyomov MN, Shishkin AA, Kadri S, Hanan M, Zhu X, Garber M, Kadener S. Defining the 5΄ and 3΄ landscape of the Drosophila transcriptome with Exo-seq and RNaseH-seq. Nucleic Acids Res 2017; 45:e95. [PMID: 28335028 PMCID: PMC5499799 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkx133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2016] [Accepted: 02/15/2017] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Cells regulate biological responses in part through changes in transcription start sites (TSS) or cleavage and polyadenylation sites (PAS). To fully understand gene regulatory networks, it is therefore critical to accurately annotate cell type-specific TSS and PAS. Here we present a simple and straightforward approach for genome-wide annotation of 5΄- and 3΄-RNA ends. Our approach reliably discerns bona fide PAS from false PAS that arise due to internal poly(A) tracts, a common problem with current PAS annotation methods. We applied our methodology to study the impact of temperature on the Drosophila melanogaster head transcriptome. We found hundreds of previously unidentified TSS and PAS which revealed two interesting phenomena: first, genes with multiple PASs tend to harbor a motif near the most proximal PAS, which likely represents a new cleavage and polyadenylation signal. Second, motif analysis of promoters of genes affected by temperature suggested that boundary element association factor of 32 kDa (BEAF-32) and DREF mediates a transcriptional program at warm temperatures, a result we validated in a fly line where beaf-32 is downregulated. These results demonstrate the utility of a high-throughput platform for complete experimental and computational analysis of mRNA-ends to improve gene annotation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaked Afik
- Biological Chemistry Department, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Osnat Bartok
- Biological Chemistry Department, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Maxim N Artyomov
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA.,Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Alexander A Shishkin
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Sabah Kadri
- Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
| | - Mor Hanan
- Biological Chemistry Department, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
| | - Xiaopeng Zhu
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
| | - Manuel Garber
- Program in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01655, USA
| | - Sebastian Kadener
- Biological Chemistry Department, Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91904, Israel
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28
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Li W, Li W, Laishram RS, Hoque M, Ji Z, Tian B, Anderson RA. Distinct regulation of alternative polyadenylation and gene expression by nuclear poly(A) polymerases. Nucleic Acids Res 2017; 45:8930-8942. [PMID: 28911096 PMCID: PMC5587728 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkx560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 06/23/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Polyadenylation of nascent RNA by poly(A) polymerase (PAP) is important for 3′ end maturation of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs. Most mammalian genes harbor multiple polyadenylation sites (PASs), leading to expression of alternative polyadenylation (APA) isoforms with distinct functions. How poly(A) polymerases may regulate PAS usage and hence gene expression is poorly understood. Here, we show that the nuclear canonical (PAPα and PAPγ) and non-canonical (Star-PAP) PAPs play diverse roles in PAS selection and gene expression. Deficiencies in the PAPs resulted in perturbations of gene expression, with Star-PAP impacting lowly expressed mRNAs and long-noncoding RNAs to the greatest extent. Importantly, different PASs of a gene are distinctly regulated by different PAPs, leading to widespread relative expression changes of APA isoforms. The location and surrounding sequence motifs of a PAS appear to differentiate its regulation by the PAPs. We show Star-PAP-specific PAS usage regulates the expression of the eukaryotic translation initiation factor EIF4A1, the tumor suppressor gene PTEN and the long non-coding RNA NEAT1. The Star-PAP-mediated APA of PTEN is essential for DNA damage-induced increase of PTEN protein levels. Together, our results reveal a PAS-guided and PAP-mediated paradigm for gene expression in response to cellular signaling cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weimin Li
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA.,Washington State University, Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Spokane, WA 99202, USA
| | - Wencheng Li
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
| | - Rakesh S Laishram
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Mainul Hoque
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
| | - Zhe Ji
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
| | - Bin Tian
- Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, Newark, NJ 07103, USA
| | - Richard A Anderson
- University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53706, USA
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29
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Kargapolova Y, Levin M, Lackner K, Danckwardt S. sCLIP-an integrated platform to study RNA-protein interactomes in biomedical research: identification of CSTF2tau in alternative processing of small nuclear RNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 2017; 45:6074-6086. [PMID: 28334977 PMCID: PMC5449641 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkx152] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/23/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are central for gene expression by controlling the RNA fate from birth to decay. Various disorders arising from perturbations of RNA-protein interactions document their critical function. However, deciphering their function is complex, limiting the general functional elucidation of this growing class of proteins and their contribution to (patho)physiology. Here, we present sCLIP, a simplified and robust platform for genome-wide interrogation of RNA-protein interactomes based on crosslinking-immunoprecipitation and high-throughput sequencing. sCLIP exploits linear amplification of the immunoprecipitated RNA improving the complexity of the sequencing-library despite significantly reducing the amount of input material and omitting several purification steps. Additionally, it permits a radiolabel-free visualization of immunoprecipitated RNA. In a proof of concept, we identify that CSTF2tau binds many previously not recognized RNAs including histone, snoRNA and snRNAs. CSTF2tau-binding is associated with internal oligoadenylation resulting in shortened snRNA isoforms subjected to rapid degradation. We provide evidence for a new mechanism whereby CSTF2tau controls the abundance of snRNAs resulting in alternative splicing of several RNAs including ANK2 with critical roles in tumorigenesis and cardiac function. Combined with a bioinformatic pipeline sCLIP thus uncovers new functions for established RBPs and fosters the illumination of RBP-protein interaction landscapes in health and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yulia Kargapolova
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Germany.,Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
| | - Michal Levin
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Germany.,Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Germany
| | - Karl Lackner
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Germany.,German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Germany
| | - Sven Danckwardt
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Germany.,Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Germany.,German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Germany
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30
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Major splice variants and multiple polyadenylation site utilization in mRNAs encoding human translation initiation factors eIF4E1 and eIF4E3 regulate the translational regulators? Mol Genet Genomics 2017; 293:167-186. [PMID: 28942592 DOI: 10.1007/s00438-017-1375-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2017] [Accepted: 09/19/2017] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation is an important and pervasive mechanism that generates heterogeneous 3'-termini of mRNA and is considered an important regulator of gene expression. We performed bioinformatics analyses of ESTs and the 3'-UTRs of the main transcript splice variants of the translational initiation factor eIF4E1 and its family members, eIF4E2 and eIF4E3. This systematic analysis led to the prediction of new polyadenylation signals. All identified polyadenylation sites were subsequently verified by 3'RACE of transcripts isolated from human lymphoblastic cell lines. This led to the observation that multiple simultaneous polyadenylation site utilization occurs in single cell population. Importantly, we described the use of new polyadenylation site in the eIF4E1 mRNA, which lacked any known polyadenylation signal. The proportion of eIF4E1 transcripts derived from the first two polyadenylation sites in eIF4E1 mRNA achieved 15% in a wide range of cell lines. This result demonstrates the ubiquitous presence of ARE-lacking transcripts, which escape HuR/Auf1-mediated control, the main mechanism of eIF4E1 gene expression regulation. We found many EST clones documenting the significant production of transcript variants 2-4 of eIF4E2 gene that encode proteins with C-termini that were distinct from the mainly studied prototypical isoform A. Similarly, eIF4E3 mRNAs are produced as two main variants with the same very long 3'-UTR with potential for heavy post-transcriptional regulation. We identified sparsely documented transcript variant 1 of eIF4E3 gene in human placenta. eIF4E3 truncated transcript variants were found mainly in brain. We propose to elucidate the minor splice variants of eIF4E2 and eIF4E3 in great detail because they might produce proteins with modified features that fulfill different cellular roles from their major counterparts.
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31
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Turner RE, Pattison AD, Beilharz TH. Alternative polyadenylation in the regulation and dysregulation of gene expression. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2017; 75:61-69. [PMID: 28867199 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2017.08.056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Revised: 08/30/2017] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptional control shapes a cell's transcriptome composition, but it is RNA processing that refines its expression. The untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNA are hotspots for regulatory control. Features in these can impact mRNA stability, localisation and translation. Here we describe how alternative cleavage and polyadenylation can change mRNA fate by changing the length of its 3'UTR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachael Emily Turner
- Development and stem cells Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Andrew David Pattison
- Development and stem cells Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia
| | - Traude Helene Beilharz
- Development and stem cells Program, Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia.
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32
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Neve J, Patel R, Wang Z, Louey A, Furger AM. Cleavage and polyadenylation: Ending the message expands gene regulation. RNA Biol 2017; 14:865-890. [PMID: 28453393 PMCID: PMC5546720 DOI: 10.1080/15476286.2017.1306171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2017] [Revised: 03/02/2017] [Accepted: 03/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Cleavage and polyadenylation (pA) is a fundamental step that is required for the maturation of primary protein encoding transcripts into functional mRNAs that can be exported from the nucleus and translated in the cytoplasm. 3'end processing is dependent on the assembly of a multiprotein processing complex on the pA signals that reside in the pre-mRNAs. Most eukaryotic genes have multiple pA signals, resulting in alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA), a widespread phenomenon that is important to establish cell state and cell type specific transcriptomes. Here, we review how pA sites are recognized and comprehensively summarize how APA is regulated and creates mRNA isoform profiles that are characteristic for cell types, tissues, cellular states and disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Neve
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Radhika Patel
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Zhiqiao Wang
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Alastair Louey
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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33
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The role of alternative polyadenylation in the antiviral innate immune response. Nat Commun 2017; 8:14605. [PMID: 28233779 PMCID: PMC5333124 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 69] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2016] [Accepted: 01/17/2017] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an important regulatory mechanism of gene functions in many biological processes. However, the extent of 3' UTR variation and the function of APA during the innate antiviral immune response are unclear. Here, we show genome-wide poly(A) sites switch and average 3' UTR length shortens gradually in response to vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection in macrophages. Genes with APA and mRNA abundance change are enriched in immune-related categories such as the Toll-like receptor, RIG-I-like receptor, JAK-STAT and apoptosis-related signalling pathways. The expression of 3' processing factors is down-regulated upon VSV infection. When the core 3' processing factors are knocked down, viral replication is affected. Thus, our study reports the annotation of genes with APA in antiviral immunity and highlights the roles of 3' processing factors on 3' UTR variation upon viral infection.
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34
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Abstract
Alternative polyadenylation (APA) is an RNA-processing mechanism that generates distinct 3' termini on mRNAs and other RNA polymerase II transcripts. It is widespread across all eukaryotic species and is recognized as a major mechanism of gene regulation. APA exhibits tissue specificity and is important for cell proliferation and differentiation. In this Review, we discuss the roles of APA in diverse cellular processes, including mRNA metabolism, protein diversification and protein localization, and more generally in gene regulation. We also discuss the molecular mechanisms underlying APA, such as variation in the concentration of core processing factors and RNA-binding proteins, as well as transcription-based regulation.
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Kainov YA, Aushev VN, Naumenko SA, Tchevkina EM, Bazykin GA. Complex Selection on Human Polyadenylation Signals Revealed by Polymorphism and Divergence Data. Genome Biol Evol 2016; 8:1971-9. [PMID: 27324920 PMCID: PMC4943204 DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evw137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/05/2016] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Polyadenylation is a step of mRNA processing which is crucial for its expression and stability. The major polyadenylation signal (PAS) represents a nucleotide hexamer that adheres to the AATAAA consensus sequence. Over a half of human genes have multiple cleavage and polyadenylation sites, resulting in a great diversity of transcripts differing in function, stability, and translational activity. Here, we use available whole-genome human polymorphism data together with data on interspecies divergence to study the patterns of selection acting on PAS hexamers. Common variants of PAS hexamers are depleted of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and SNPs within PAS hexamers have a reduced derived allele frequency (DAF) and increased conservation, indicating prevalent negative selection; at the same time, the SNPs that "improve" the PAS (i.e., those leading to higher cleavage efficiency) have increased DAF, compared to those that "impair" it. SNPs are rarer at PAS of "unique" polyadenylation sites (one site per gene); among alternative polyadenylation sites, at the distal PAS and at exonic PAS. Similar trends were observed in DAFs and divergence between species of placental mammals. Thus, selection permits PAS mutations mainly at redundant and/or weakly functional PAS. Nevertheless, a fraction of the SNPs at PAS hexamers likely affect gene functions; in particular, some of the observed SNPs are associated with disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaroslav A Kainov
- Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, King's College London, London, United Kingdom Oncogenes Regulation Department, N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center, Institute of Carcinogenesis, Moscow, Russia
| | - Vasily N Aushev
- Oncogenes Regulation Department, N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center, Institute of Carcinogenesis, Moscow, Russia Department of Preventive Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
| | - Sergey A Naumenko
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Genetics and Genome Biology Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
| | - Elena M Tchevkina
- Oncogenes Regulation Department, N.N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center, Institute of Carcinogenesis, Moscow, Russia
| | - Georgii A Bazykin
- Institute for Information Transmission Problems (Kharkevich Institute) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Skolkovo, Russia Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russia
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36
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Ogorodnikov A, Kargapolova Y, Danckwardt S. Processing and transcriptome expansion at the mRNA 3' end in health and disease: finding the right end. Pflugers Arch 2016; 468:993-1012. [PMID: 27220521 PMCID: PMC4893057 DOI: 10.1007/s00424-016-1828-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2016] [Accepted: 04/19/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
The human transcriptome is highly dynamic, with each cell type, tissue, and organ system expressing an ensemble of transcript isoforms that give rise to considerable diversity. Apart from alternative splicing affecting the "body" of the transcripts, extensive transcriptome diversification occurs at the 3' end. Transcripts differing at the 3' end can have profound physiological effects by encoding proteins with distinct functions or regulatory properties or by affecting the mRNA fate via the inclusion or exclusion of regulatory elements (such as miRNA or protein binding sites). Importantly, the dynamic regulation at the 3' end is associated with various (patho)physiological processes, including the immune regulation but also tumorigenesis. Here, we recapitulate the mechanisms of constitutive mRNA 3' end processing and review the current understanding of the dynamically regulated diversity at the transcriptome 3' end. We illustrate the medical importance by presenting examples that are associated with perturbations of this process and indicate resulting implications for molecular diagnostics as well as potentially arising novel therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anton Ogorodnikov
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany
| | - Yulia Kargapolova
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany
| | - Sven Danckwardt
- Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
- Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis (CTH), University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
- German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Langenbeckstr 1, 55131, Mainz, Germany.
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Hwang HW, Park CY, Goodarzi H, Fak JJ, Mele A, Moore MJ, Saito Y, Darnell RB. PAPERCLIP Identifies MicroRNA Targets and a Role of CstF64/64tau in Promoting Non-canonical poly(A) Site Usage. Cell Rep 2016; 15:423-35. [PMID: 27050522 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.03.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2015] [Revised: 01/11/2016] [Accepted: 03/04/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Accurate and precise annotation of 3' UTRs is critical for understanding how mRNAs are regulated by microRNAs (miRNAs) and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Here, we describe a method, poly(A) binding protein-mediated mRNA 3' end retrieval by crosslinking immunoprecipitation (PAPERCLIP), that shows high specificity for mRNA 3' ends and compares favorably with existing 3' end mapping methods. PAPERCLIP uncovers a previously unrecognized role of CstF64/64tau in promoting the usage of a selected group of non-canonical poly(A) sites, the majority of which contain a downstream GUKKU motif. Furthermore, in the mouse brain, PAPERCLIP discovers extended 3' UTR sequences harboring functional miRNA binding sites and reveals developmentally regulated APA shifts, including one in Atp2b2 that is evolutionarily conserved in humans and results in the gain of a functional binding site of miR-137. PAPERCLIP provides a powerful tool to decipher post-transcriptional regulation of mRNAs through APA in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hun-Way Hwang
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA.
| | - Christopher Y Park
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA; New York Genome Center, 101 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013, USA
| | - Hani Goodarzi
- Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - John J Fak
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Aldo Mele
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Michael J Moore
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Yuhki Saito
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA
| | - Robert B Darnell
- Laboratory of Molecular Neuro-Oncology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York 10065, USA; New York Genome Center, 101 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013, USA.
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38
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Marsollier AC, Ciszewski L, Mariot V, Popplewell L, Voit T, Dickson G, Dumonceaux J. Antisense targeting of 3' end elements involved in DUX4 mRNA processing is an efficient therapeutic strategy for facioscapulohumeral dystrophy: a new gene-silencing approach. Hum Mol Genet 2016; 25:1468-78. [PMID: 26787513 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddw015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2015] [Accepted: 01/14/2016] [Indexed: 01/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Defects in mRNA 3'end formation have been described to alter transcription termination, transport of the mRNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, stability of the mRNA and translation efficiency. Therefore, inhibition of polyadenylation may lead to gene silencing. Here, we choose facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) as a model to determine whether or not targeting key 3' end elements involved in mRNA processing using antisense oligonucleotide drugs can be used as a strategy for gene silencing within a potentially therapeutic context. FSHD is a gain-of-function disease characterized by the aberrant expression of the Double homeobox 4 (DUX4) transcription factor leading to altered pathogenic deregulation of multiple genes in muscles. Here, we demonstrate that targeting either the mRNA polyadenylation signal and/or cleavage site is an efficient strategy to down-regulate DUX4 expression and to decrease the abnormally high-pathological expression of genes downstream of DUX4. We conclude that targeting key functional 3' end elements involved in pre-mRNA to mRNA maturation with antisense drugs can lead to efficient gene silencing and is thus a potentially effective therapeutic strategy for at least FSHD. Moreover, polyadenylation is a crucial step in the maturation of almost all eukaryotic mRNAs, and thus all mRNAs are virtually eligible for this antisense-mediated knockdown strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Charlotte Marsollier
- Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), GH Pitié Salpêtrière, 47 bld de l'hôpital, Paris 13, France and
| | - Lukasz Ciszewski
- Centre of Biomedical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Virginie Mariot
- Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), GH Pitié Salpêtrière, 47 bld de l'hôpital, Paris 13, France and
| | - Linda Popplewell
- Centre of Biomedical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Thomas Voit
- Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), GH Pitié Salpêtrière, 47 bld de l'hôpital, Paris 13, France and
| | - George Dickson
- Centre of Biomedical Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Julie Dumonceaux
- Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ Paris 06, Inserm, CNRS, Centre de Recherche en Myologie (CRM), GH Pitié Salpêtrière, 47 bld de l'hôpital, Paris 13, France and
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Brewer-Jensen P, Wilson CB, Abernethy J, Mollison L, Card S, Searles LL. Suppressor of sable [Su(s)] and Wdr82 down-regulate RNA from heat-shock-inducible repetitive elements by a mechanism that involves transcription termination. RNA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2016; 22:139-54. [PMID: 26577379 PMCID: PMC4691828 DOI: 10.1261/rna.048819.114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2015] [Accepted: 10/23/2015] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Although RNA polymerase II (Pol II) productively transcribes very long genes in vivo, transcription through extragenic sequences often terminates in the promoter-proximal region and the nascent RNA is degraded. Mechanisms that induce early termination and RNA degradation are not well understood in multicellular organisms. Here, we present evidence that the suppressor of sable [su(s)] regulatory pathway of Drosophila melanogaster plays a role in this process. We previously showed that Su(s) promotes exosome-mediated degradation of transcripts from endogenous repeated elements at an Hsp70 locus (Hsp70-αβ elements). In this report, we identify Wdr82 as a component of this process and show that it works with Su(s) to inhibit Pol II elongation through Hsp70-αβ elements. Furthermore, we show that the unstable transcripts produced during this process are polyadenylated at heterogeneous sites that lack canonical polyadenylation signals. We define two distinct regions that mediate this regulation. These results indicate that the Su(s) pathway promotes RNA degradation and transcription termination through a novel mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul Brewer-Jensen
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
| | - Carrie B Wilson
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
| | - John Abernethy
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
| | - Lonna Mollison
- Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
| | - Samantha Card
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
| | - Lillie L Searles
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280, USA
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40
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Neve J, Burger K, Li W, Hoque M, Patel R, Tian B, Gullerova M, Furger A. Subcellular RNA profiling links splicing and nuclear DICER1 to alternative cleavage and polyadenylation. Genome Res 2015; 26:24-35. [PMID: 26546131 PMCID: PMC4691748 DOI: 10.1101/gr.193995.115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2015] [Accepted: 11/04/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) plays a crucial role in the regulation of gene expression across eukaryotes. Although APA is extensively studied, its regulation within cellular compartments and its physiological impact remains largely enigmatic. Here, we used a rigorous subcellular fractionation approach to compare APA profiles of cytoplasmic and nuclear RNA fractions from human cell lines. This approach allowed us to extract APA isoforms that are subjected to differential regulation and provided us with a platform to interrogate the molecular regulatory pathways that shape APA profiles in different subcellular locations. Here, we show that APA isoforms with shorter 3' UTRs tend to be overrepresented in the cytoplasm and appear to be cell-type-specific events. Nuclear retention of longer APA isoforms occurs and is partly a result of incomplete splicing contributing to the observed cytoplasmic bias of transcripts with shorter 3' UTRs. We demonstrate that the endoribonuclease III, DICER1, contributes to the establishment of subcellular APA profiles not only by expected cytoplasmic miRNA-mediated destabilization of APA mRNA isoforms, but also by affecting polyadenylation site choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Neve
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU, United Kingdom
| | - Kaspar Burger
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, OX1 3RE, United Kingdom
| | - Wencheng Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Mainul Hoque
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Radhika Patel
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU, United Kingdom
| | - Bin Tian
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA
| | - Monika Gullerova
- Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, OX1 3RE, United Kingdom
| | - Andre Furger
- Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, OX1 3QU, United Kingdom
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41
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de Klerk E, 't Hoen PAC. Alternative mRNA transcription, processing, and translation: insights from RNA sequencing. Trends Genet 2015; 31:128-39. [PMID: 25648499 DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2015.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 226] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2014] [Revised: 12/22/2014] [Accepted: 01/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The human transcriptome comprises >80,000 protein-coding transcripts and the estimated number of proteins synthesized from these transcripts is in the range of 250,000 to 1 million. These transcripts and proteins are encoded by less than 20,000 genes, suggesting extensive regulation at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and translational level. Here we review how RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technologies have increased our understanding of the mechanisms that give rise to alternative transcripts and their alternative translation. We highlight four different regulatory processes: alternative transcription initiation, alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation, and alternative translation initiation. We discuss their transcriptome-wide distribution, their impact on protein expression, their biological relevance, and the possible molecular mechanisms leading to their alternative regulation. We conclude with a discussion of the coordination and the interdependence of these four regulatory layers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleonora de Klerk
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Peter A C 't Hoen
- Department of Human Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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42
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Gong Q, Stump MR, Zhou Z. Upregulation of functional Kv11.1 isoform expression by inhibition of intronic polyadenylation with antisense morpholino oligonucleotides. J Mol Cell Cardiol 2014; 76:26-32. [PMID: 25128783 DOI: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2014.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2014] [Revised: 08/04/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
The KCNH2 gene encodes the Kv11.1 potassium channel that conducts the rapidly activating delayed rectifier current in the heart. KCNH2 pre-mRNA undergoes alternative processing; intron 9 splicing leads to the formation of a functional, full-length Kv11.1a isoform, while polyadenylation within intron 9 generates a non-functional, C-terminally truncated Kv11.1a-USO isoform. The relative expression of Kv11.1 isoforms plays an important role in the regulation of Kv11.1 channel function and the pathogenesis of long QT syndrome. In this study, we identified cis-acting elements that are required for KCNH2 intron 9 poly(A) signal activity. Mutation of these elements decreased Kv11.1a-USO expression and increased the expression of Kv11.1a mRNA, protein and channel current. More importantly, blocking these elements by antisense morpholino oligonucleotides shifted the alternative processing of KCNH2 intron 9 from the polyadenylation to the splicing pathway, leading to the predominant production of Kv11.1a and a significant increase in Kv11.1 current. Our findings indicate that the expression of the Kv11.1a isoform can be upregulated by an antisense approach. Antisense inhibition of KCNH2 intronic polyadenylation represents a novel approach to increase Kv11.1 channel function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiuming Gong
- Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Matthew R Stump
- Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
| | - Zhengfeng Zhou
- Knight Cardiovascular Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
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43
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Miura P, Sanfilippo P, Shenker S, Lai EC. Alternative polyadenylation in the nervous system: to what lengths will 3' UTR extensions take us? Bioessays 2014; 36:766-77. [PMID: 24903459 PMCID: PMC4503322 DOI: 10.1002/bies.201300174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) can diversify coding and non-coding regions, but has particular impact on increasing 3' UTR diversity. Through the gain or loss of regulatory elements such as RNA binding protein and microRNA sites, APA can influence transcript stability, localization, and translational efficiency. Strikingly, the central nervous systems of invertebrate and vertebrate species express a broad range of transcript isoforms bearing extended 3' UTRs. The molecular mechanism that permits proximal 3' end bypass in neurons is mysterious, and only beginning to be elucidated. This landscape of neural 3' UTR extensions, many reaching unprecedented lengths, may help service the unique post-transcriptional regulatory needs of neurons. A combination of approaches, including transcriptome-wide profiling, genetic screening to identify APA factors, biochemical dissection of alternative 3' end formation, and manipulation of individual neural APA targets, will be necessary to gain fuller perspectives on the mechanism and biology of neural-specific 3' UTR lengthening.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pedro Miura
- Department of Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 1275 York Ave, Box 252, New York NY 10065
| | - Piero Sanfilippo
- Department of Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 1275 York Ave, Box 252, New York NY 10065
- Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
| | - Sol Shenker
- Department of Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 1275 York Ave, Box 252, New York NY 10065
- Tri-Institutional Program in Computational Biology and Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College
| | - Eric C. Lai
- Department of Developmental Biology, Sloan-Kettering Institute, 1275 York Ave, Box 252, New York NY 10065
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44
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Doxakis E. RNA binding proteins: a common denominator of neuronal function and dysfunction. Neurosci Bull 2014; 30:610-26. [PMID: 24962082 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-014-1443-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2014] [Accepted: 02/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In eukaryotic cells, gene activity is not directly reflected by protein levels because mRNA processing, transport, stability, and translation are co- and post-transcriptionally regulated. These processes, collectively known as the ribonome, are tightly controlled and carried out by a plethora of trans-acting RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) that bind to specific cis elements throughout the RNA sequence. Within the nervous system, the role of RBPs in brain function turns out to be essential due to the architectural complexity of neurons exemplified by a relatively small somal size and an extensive network of projections and connections. Thus far, RBPs have been shown to be indispensable for several aspects of neurogenesis, neurite outgrowth, synapse formation, and plasticity. Consequently, perturbation of their function is central in the etiology of an ever-growing spectrum of neurological diseases, including fragile X syndrome and the neurodegenerative disorders frontotemporal lobar degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Epaminondas Doxakis
- Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Center of Basic Neuroscience, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Soranou Efesiou 4, Athens, 11527, Greece,
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45
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Jalkanen AL, Coleman SJ, Wilusz J. Determinants and implications of mRNA poly(A) tail size--does this protein make my tail look big? Semin Cell Dev Biol 2014; 34:24-32. [PMID: 24910447 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2014.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2014] [Accepted: 05/31/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
While the phenomenon of polyadenylation has been well-studied, the dynamics of poly(A) tail size and its impact on transcript function and cell biology are less well-appreciated. The goal of this review is to encourage readers to view the poly(A) tail as a dynamic, changeable aspect of a transcript rather than a simple static entity that marks the 3' end of an mRNA. This could open up new angles of regulation in the post-transcriptional control of gene expression throughout development, differentiation and cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aimee L Jalkanen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Stephen J Coleman
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Jeffrey Wilusz
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
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46
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Zheng D, Tian B. RNA-binding proteins in regulation of alternative cleavage and polyadenylation. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2014; 825:97-127. [PMID: 25201104 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1221-6_3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Almost all eukaryotic pre-mRNAs are processed at the 3' end by the cleavage and polyadenylation (C/P) reaction, which preludes termination of transcription and gives rise to the poly(A) tail of mature mRNA. Genomic studies in recent years have indicated that most eukaryotic mRNA genes have multiple cleavage and polyadenylation sites (pAs), leading to alternative cleavage and polyadenylation (APA) products. APA isoforms generally differ in their 3' untranslated regions (3' UTRs), but can also have different coding sequences (CDSs). APA expands the repertoire of transcripts expressed from the genome, and is highly regulated under various physiological and pathological conditions. Growing lines of evidence have shown that RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play important roles in regulation of APA. Some RBPs are part of the machinery for C/P; others influence pA choice through binding to adjacent regions. In this chapter, we review cis elements and trans factors involved in C/P, the significance of APA, and increasingly elucidated roles of RBPs in APA regulation. We also discuss analysis of APA using transcriptome-wide techniques as well as molecular biology approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dinghai Zheng
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Ave., Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
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47
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Huang H, Chen J, Liu H, Sun X. The nucleosome regulates the usage of polyadenylation sites in the human genome. BMC Genomics 2013; 14:912. [PMID: 24365105 PMCID: PMC3879661 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-14-912] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2013] [Accepted: 12/19/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background It has been reported that 3' end processing is coupled to transcription and nucleosome depletion near the polyadenylation sites in many species. However, the association between nucleosome occupancy and polyadenylation site usage is still unclear. Results By systematic analysis of high-throughput sequencing datasets from the human genome, we found that nucleosome occupancy patterns are different around the polyadenylation sites, and that the patterns associate with both transcription termination and recognition of polyadenylation sites. Upstream of proximal polyadenylation sites, RNA polymerase II accumulated and nucleosomes were better positioned compared with downstream of the sites. Highly used proximal polyadenylation sites had higher upstream nucleosome levels and RNA polymerase II accumulation than lowly used sites. This suggests that nucleosomes positioned upstream of proximal sites function in the recognition of proximal polyadenylation sites and in the preparation for 3' end processing by slowing down transcription speed. Both conserved distal polyadenylation sites and constitutive sites showed stronger nucleosome depletion near polyadenylation sites and had intrinsically better positioned downstream nucleosomes. Finally, there was a higher accumulation of RNA polymerase II downstream of the polyadenylation sites, to guarantee gene transcription termination and recognition of the last polyadenylation sites, if previous sites were missed. Conclusions Our study indicates that nucleosome arrays play different roles in the regulation of the usage of polyadenylation sites and transcription termination of protein-coding genes, and form a dual pausing model of RNA polymerase II in the alternative polyadenylation sites’ region, to ensure effective 3' end processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Xiao Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Bioelectronics, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
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Hafez D, Ni T, Mukherjee S, Zhu J, Ohler U. Genome-wide identification and predictive modeling of tissue-specific alternative polyadenylation. Bioinformatics 2013; 29:i108-16. [PMID: 23812974 PMCID: PMC3694680 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btt233] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Motivation: Pre-mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation are essential steps for 3′-end maturation and subsequent stability and degradation of mRNAs. This process is highly controlled by cis-regulatory elements surrounding the cleavage/polyadenylation sites (polyA sites), which are frequently constrained by sequence content and position. More than 50% of human transcripts have multiple functional polyA sites, and the specific use of alternative polyA sites (APA) results in isoforms with variable 3′-untranslated regions, thus potentially affecting gene regulation. Elucidating the regulatory mechanisms underlying differential polyA preferences in multiple cell types has been hindered both by the lack of suitable data on the precise location of cleavage sites, as well as of appropriate tests for determining APAs with significant differences across multiple libraries. Results: We applied a tailored paired-end RNA-seq protocol to specifically probe the position of polyA sites in three human adult tissue types. We specified a linear-effects regression model to identify tissue-specific biases indicating regulated APA; the significance of differences between tissue types was assessed by an appropriately designed permutation test. This combination allowed to identify highly specific subsets of APA events in the individual tissue types. Predictive models successfully classified constitutive polyA sites from a biologically relevant background (auROC = 99.6%), as well as tissue-specific regulated sets from each other. We found that the main cis-regulatory elements described for polyadenylation are a strong, and highly informative, hallmark for constitutive sites only. Tissue-specific regulated sites were found to contain other regulatory motifs, with the canonical polyadenylation signal being nearly absent at brain-specific polyA sites. Together, our results contribute to the understanding of the diversity of post-transcriptional gene regulation. Availability: Raw data are deposited on SRA, accession numbers: brain SRX208132, kidney SRX208087 and liver SRX208134. Processed datasets as well as model code are published on our website: http://www.genome.duke.edu/labs/ohler/research/UTR/ Contact:uwe.ohler@duke.edu
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Affiliation(s)
- Dina Hafez
- Department of Computer Science, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
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Gruber AR, Martin G, Keller W, Zavolan M. Means to an end: mechanisms of alternative polyadenylation of messenger RNA precursors. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS-RNA 2013; 5:183-96. [PMID: 24243805 PMCID: PMC4282565 DOI: 10.1002/wrna.1206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2013] [Revised: 10/16/2013] [Accepted: 10/18/2013] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Expression of mature messenger RNAs (mRNAs) requires appropriate transcription initiation and termination, as well as pre-mRNA processing by capping, splicing, cleavage, and polyadenylation. A core 3'-end processing complex carries out the cleavage and polyadenylation reactions, but many proteins have been implicated in the selection of polyadenylation sites among the multiple alternatives that eukaryotic genes typically have. In recent years, high-throughput approaches to map both the 3'-end processing sites as well as the binding sites of proteins that are involved in the selection of cleavage sites and in the processing reactions have been developed. Here, we review these approaches as well as the insights into the mechanisms of polyadenylation that emerged from genome-wide studies of polyadenylation across a range of cell types and states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas R Gruber
- Computational and Systems Biology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Elkon R, Ugalde AP, Agami R. Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation: extent, regulation and function. Nat Rev Genet 2013; 14:496-506. [PMID: 23774734 DOI: 10.1038/nrg3482] [Citation(s) in RCA: 560] [Impact Index Per Article: 50.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The 3' end of most protein-coding genes and long non-coding RNAs is cleaved and polyadenylated. Recent discoveries have revealed that a large proportion of these genes contains more than one polyadenylation site. Therefore, alternative polyadenylation (APA) is a widespread phenomenon, generating mRNAs with alternative 3' ends. APA contributes to the complexity of the transcriptome by generating isoforms that differ either in their coding sequence or in their 3' untranslated regions (UTRs), thereby potentially regulating the function, stability, localization and translation efficiency of target RNAs. Here, we review our current understanding of the polyadenylation process and the latest progress in the identification of APA events, mechanisms that regulate poly(A) site selection, and biological processes and diseases resulting from APA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ran Elkon
- Division of Gene Regulation, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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