1
|
Uriu K, Hernandez-Sanchez JP, Kojima S. Impacts of the feedback loop between sense-antisense RNAs in regulating circadian rhythms. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.28.591560. [PMID: 38746188 PMCID: PMC11092440 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.28.591560] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Antisense transcripts are a unique group of non-coding RNAs that are transcribed from the opposite strand of a sense coding gene in an antisense orientation. Even though they do not encode a protein, these transcripts play a regulatory role in a variety of biological processes, including circadian rhythms. We and others found an antisense transcript, Per2AS , that is transcribed from the strand opposite the sense transcript Period2 ( Per2 ) and exhibits a rhythmic and antiphasic expression pattern compared to Per2 in mouse. By assuming that Per2AS and Per2 mutually repress each other, our previous mathematical model predicted that Per2AS regulates the robustness and the amplitude of circadian rhythms. In this study, we revised our previous model and developed a new mathematical model that mechanistically described the mutually repressive relationship between Per2 and Per2AS via transcriptional interference. We found that the simulation results are largely consistent with experimental observations including the counterintuitive ones that could not be fully explained by our previous model. These results indicate that our revised model serves as a foundation to build more detailed models in the future to better understand the impact of Per2AS-Per2 interaction in the mammalian circadian clock. Our mechanistic description of Per2AS-Per2 interaction can also be extended to other mathematical models that involve sense-antisense RNA pairs that mutually repress each other.
Collapse
|
2
|
Wanney WC, Youssar L, Kostova G, Georg J. Improved RNA stability estimation indicates that transcriptional interference is frequent in diverse bacteria. Commun Biol 2023; 6:732. [PMID: 37454177 PMCID: PMC10349824 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05097-2] [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: 03/09/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We used stochastic simulations and experimental data from E. coli, K. aerogenes, Synechococcus PCC 7002 and Synechocystis PCC 6803 to provide evidence that transcriptional interference via the collision mechanism is likely a prevalent mechanism for bacterial gene regulation. Rifampicin time-series data can be used to globally monitor and quantify collision between sense and antisense transcription-complexes. Our findings also highlight that transcriptional events, such as differential RNA decay, partial termination, and internal transcriptional start sites often deviate from gene annotations. Consequently, within a single gene annotation, there exist transcript segments with varying half-lives and transcriptional properties. To address these complexities, we introduce 'rifi', an R-package that analyzes transcriptomic data from rifampicin time series. 'rifi' employs a dynamic programming-based segmentation approach to identify individual transcripts, enabling accurate assessment of RNA stability and detection of diverse transcriptional events.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Walja C Wanney
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Plant Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Loubna Youssar
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Gergana Kostova
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Jens Georg
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Faculty of Biology, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Abraha BW, Marchisio MA. Design of Gene Boolean Gates and Circuits with Convergent Promoters. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2553:121-154. [PMID: 36227542 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2617-7_7] [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] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Gene digital circuits are the subject of many research works due to their various potential applications, from hazard detection to medical diagnostic. Moreover, a remarkable number of techniques, developed in electronics, can be used for the construction of biological digital systems. In our previous works, we showed how to automatize the design and modeling of gene digital circuits whose gates were based on transcription and translation regulation. In this chapter, we illustrate how Boolean gates could be implemented by following a particular architecture, the convergent promoter one, rather diffuse in nature but seldom adopted in Synthetic Biology. Beside gate design, we also explain how to extend our previous modeling approach, based on composable parts and pools of molecules, to quantitatively describe and simulate this particular kind of digital biological devices.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Biruck Woldai Abraha
- School of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Anand D, Jakkala K, Nair RR, Sharan D, Pradhan A, Mukkayyan N, Ajitkumar P. Complete identity and expression of StfZ, the cis-antisense RNA to the mRNA of the cell division gene ftsZ, in Escherichia coli. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:920117. [PMID: 36338044 PMCID: PMC9628754 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.920117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacteria regulate FtsZ protein levels through transcriptional and translational mechanisms for proper cell division. A cis-antisense RNA, StfZ, produced from the ftsA-ftsZ intergenic region, was proposed to regulate FtsZ level in Escherichia coli. However, its structural identity remained unknown. In this study, we determined the complete sequence of StfZ and identified the isoforms and its promoters. We find that under native physiological conditions, StfZ is expressed at a 1:6 ratio of StfZ:ftsZ mRNA at all growth phases from three promoters as three isoforms of 366, 474, and 552 nt RNAs. Overexpression of StfZ reduces FtsZ protein level, increases cell length, and blocks cell division without affecting the ftsZ mRNA stability. We did not find differential expression of StfZ under the stress conditions of heat shock, cold shock, or oxidative stress, or at any growth phase. These data indicated that the cis-encoded StfZ antisense RNA to ftsZ mRNA may be involved in the fine tuning of ftsZ mRNA levels available for translation as per the growth-phase-specific requirement at all phases of growth and cell division.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Deepak Anand
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- *Correspondence: Deepak Anand,
| | - Kishor Jakkala
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, United States
| | - Rashmi Ravindran Nair
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, United States
| | - Deepti Sharan
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Microbiology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Atul Pradhan
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Medicine, Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States
| | - Nagaraja Mukkayyan
- Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | | |
Collapse
|
5
|
Abstract
Despite their ubiquitous nature, few antisense RNAs have been functionally characterized, and this class of RNAs is considered by some to be transcriptional noise. Here, we report that an antisense RNA (asRNA), aMEF (antisense mazEF), functions as a dual regulator for the type II toxin-antitoxin (TA) system mazEF. Unlike type I TA systems and many other regulatory asRNAs, aMEF stimulates the synthesis and translation of mazEF rather than inhibition and degradation. Our data indicate that a double-stranded RNA intermediate and RNase III are not necessary for aMEF-dependent regulation of mazEF expression. The lack of conservation of asRNA promoters has been used to support the hypothesis that asRNAs are spurious transcriptional noise and nonfunctional. We demonstrate that the aMEF promoter is active and functional in Escherichia coli despite poor sequence conservation, indicating that the lack of promoter sequence conservation should not be correlated with functionality. IMPORTANCE Next-generation RNA sequencing of numerous organisms has revealed that transcription is widespread across the genome, termed pervasive transcription, and does not adhere to annotated gene boundaries. The function of pervasive transcription is enigmatic and has generated considerable controversy as to whether it is transcriptional noise or biologically relevant. Antisense transcription is one class of pervasive transcription that occurs from the DNA strand opposite an annotated gene. Relatively few pervasively transcribed asRNAs have been functionally characterized, and their regulatory roles or lack thereof remains unknown. It is important to study examples of these asRNAs and determine if they are functional regulators. In this study, we elucidate the function of an asRNA (aMEF) demonstrating that pervasive transcripts can be functional.
Collapse
|
6
|
O’Connor NJ, Bordoy AE, Chatterjee A. Engineering Transcriptional Interference through RNA Polymerase Processivity Control. ACS Synth Biol 2021; 10:737-748. [PMID: 33710852 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.0c00534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Abstract
Antisense transcription is widespread in all kingdoms of life and has been shown to influence gene expression through transcriptional interference (TI), a phenomenon in which one transcriptional process negatively influences another in cis. The processivity, or uninterrupted transcription, of an RNA polymerase (RNAP) is closely tied to levels of antisense transcription in bacterial genomes, but its influence on TI, while likely important, is not well-characterized. Here, we show that TI can be tuned through processivity control via three distinct antitermination strategies: the antibiotic bicyclomycin, phage protein Psu, and ribosome-RNAP coupling. We apply these methods toward TI and tune ribosome-RNAP coupling to produce 38-fold transcription-level gene repression due to both RNAP collisions and antisense RNA interference. We then couple protein roadblock and TI to design minimal genetic NAND and NOR logic gates. Together, these results show the importance of processivity control for strong TI and demonstrate TI's potential for synthetic biology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nolan J. O’Connor
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| | - Antoni E. Bordoy
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| | - Anushree Chatterjee
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
- Antimicrobial Regeneration Consortium, Boulder, Colorado 80301, United States
- Sachi Bioworks, Inc., Boulder, Colorado 80301, United States
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Krylov AA, Shapovalova VV, Miticheva EA, Shupletsov MS, Mashko SV. Universal Actuator for Efficient Silencing of Escherichia coli Genes Based on Convergent Transcription Resistant to Rho-Dependent Termination. ACS Synth Biol 2020; 9:1650-1664. [PMID: 32442368 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Dynamic control is a distinguished strategy in modern metabolic engineering, in which inducible convergent transcription is an attractive approach for conditional gene silencing. Instead of a simple strong "reverse" (r-) promoter, a three-component actuator has been developed for constitutive genes silencing. These actuators, consisting of r-promoters with different strengths, the ribosomal transcription antitermination-inducing sequence rrnG-AT, and the RNase III processing site, were inserted into the 3'-UTR of three E. coli metabolic genes. Second and third actuator components were important to improve the effectiveness and robustness of the approach. The maximal silencing folds achieved for gltA, pgi, and ppc were approximately 7, 11, and >100, respectively. Data were analyzed using a simple model that considered RNA polymerase (RNAP) head-on collisions as the unique reason for gene silencing and continued transcription after collision with only one of two molecules. It was previously established that forward (f-) RNAP with a trailing ribosome was approximately 13-times more likely to continue transcription after head-on collision than untrailed r-RNAP which is sensitive to Rho-dependent transcription termination (RhoTT). According to the current results, this bias in complex stabilities decreased to no more than (3.0-5.7)-fold if r-RNAP became resistant to RhoTT. Therefore, the developed constitutive actuator could be considered as an improved tool for controlled gene expression mainly due to the transfer of r-transcription into a state that is resistant to potential termination and used as the basis for the design of tightly regulated actuators for the achievement of conditional silencing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander A. Krylov
- Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, 1st Dorozhny pr., 1-1, Moscow, 117545, Russian Federation
| | - Valeriya V. Shapovalova
- Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, 1st Dorozhny pr., 1-1, Moscow, 117545, Russian Federation
| | - Elizaveta A. Miticheva
- Faculty of Biotechnology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory, 1-51, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
| | - Mikhail S. Shupletsov
- Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, 1st Dorozhny pr., 1-1, Moscow, 117545, Russian Federation
- Faculty of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory, 1-52, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
| | - Sergey V. Mashko
- Ajinomoto-Genetika Research Institute, 1st Dorozhny pr., 1-1, Moscow, 117545, Russian Federation
- Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskiye Gory, 1-12, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Lambrecht SJ, Steglich C, Hess WR. A minimum set of regulators to thrive in the ocean. FEMS Microbiol Rev 2020; 44:232-252. [DOI: 10.1093/femsre/fuaa005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Marine cyanobacteria of the genus Prochlorococcus thrive in high cell numbers throughout the euphotic zones of the world's subtropical and tropical oligotrophic oceans, making them some of the most ecologically relevant photosynthetic microorganisms on Earth. The ecological success of these free-living phototrophs suggests that they are equipped with a regulatory system competent to address many different stress situations. However, Prochlorococcus genomes are compact and streamlined, with the majority encoding only five different sigma factors, five to six two-component systems and eight types of other transcriptional regulators. Here, we summarize the existing information about the functions of these protein regulators, about transcriptomic responses to defined stress conditions, and discuss the current knowledge about riboswitches, RNA-based regulation and the roles of certain metabolites as co-regulators. We focus on the best-studied isolate, Prochlorococcus MED4, but extend to other strains and ecotypes when appropriate, and we include some information gained from metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analyses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S Joke Lambrecht
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Institute of Biology III, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Claudia Steglich
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Institute of Biology III, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Wolfgang R Hess
- Genetics and Experimental Bioinformatics, Institute of Biology III, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Schänzlestr. 1, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Bordoy AE, O’Connor NJ, Chatterjee A. Construction of Two-Input Logic Gates Using Transcriptional Interference. ACS Synth Biol 2019; 8:2428-2441. [PMID: 31532632 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.9b00321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Transcriptional interference (TI) has been shown to regulate gene expression at the DNA level via different molecular mechanisms. The obstacles present on the DNA that a transcribing RNA polymerase might encounter, for example, a DNA-bound protein or another RNA polymerase, can result in TI causing termination of transcription, thus reducing gene expression. However, the potential of TI as a new strategy to engineer complex gene expression modules has not been fully explored yet. Here we created a series of two-input genetic devices that use the presence of a roadblocking protein to control gene expression and analyzed their behaviors using both experimental and mathematical modeling approaches. We explored how multiple characteristics affect the response of genetic devices engineered to act like either AND, OR, or single input logic gates. We show that the dissociation constant of the roadblocking protein, inducer activation of promoter and operator sites, and distance between tandem promoters tune gate behavior. This work highlights the potential of rationally creating different types of genetic responses using the same transcription factors in subtly different genetic architectures.
Collapse
|
10
|
Ma CP, Liu H, Yi-Feng Chang I, Wang WC, Chen YT, Wu SM, Chen HW, Kuo YP, Shih CT, Li CY, Tan BCM. ADAR1 promotes robust hypoxia signaling via distinct regulation of multiple HIF-1α-inhibiting factors. EMBO Rep 2019; 20:e47107. [PMID: 30948460 PMCID: PMC6500999 DOI: 10.15252/embr.201847107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 03/12/2019] [Accepted: 03/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR)-catalyzed adenosine-to-inosine RNA editing is potentially dysregulated in neoplastic progression. However, how this transcriptome recoding process is functionally correlated with tumorigenesis remains largely elusive. Our analyses of RNA editome datasets identify hypoxia-related genes as A-to-I editing targets. In particular, two negative regulators of HIF-1A-the natural antisense transcript HIF1A-AS2 and the ubiquitin ligase scaffold LIMD1-are directly but differentially modulated by ADAR1. We show that HIF1A-AS2 antagonizes the expression of HIF-1A in the immediate-early phase of hypoxic challenge, likely through a convergent transcription competition in cis ADAR1 in turn suppresses transcriptional progression of the antisense gene. In contrast, ADAR1 affects LIMD1 expression post-transcriptionally, by interfering with the cytoplasmic translocation of LIMD1 mRNA and thus protein translation. This multi-tier regulation coordinated by ADAR1 promotes robust and timely accumulation of HIF-1α upon oxygen depletion and reinforces target gene induction and downstream angiogenesis. Our results pinpoint ADAR1-HIF-1α axis as a hitherto unrecognized key regulator in hypoxia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chung-Pei Ma
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Hsuan Liu
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Molecular Medicine Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Lin-Kou Medical Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Ian Yi-Feng Chang
- Molecular Medicine Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Wan-Cheng Wang
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Yi-Tung Chen
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Shao-Min Wu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Hui-Wen Chen
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Ping Kuo
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Chieh-Tien Shih
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Chuan-Yun Li
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Cardiometabolic Molecular Medicine, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Bertrand Chin-Ming Tan
- Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Department of Neurosurgery, Lin-Kou Medical Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan
- Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Lejars M, Kobayashi A, Hajnsdorf E. Physiological roles of antisense RNAs in prokaryotes. Biochimie 2019; 164:3-16. [PMID: 30995539 DOI: 10.1016/j.biochi.2019.04.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2019] [Accepted: 04/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Prokaryotes encounter constant and often brutal modifications to their environment. In order to survive, they need to maintain fitness, which includes adapting their protein expression patterns. Many factors control gene expression but this review focuses on just one, namely antisense RNAs (asRNAs), a class of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) characterized by their location in cis and their perfect complementarity with their targets. asRNAs were considered for a long time to be trivial and only to be found on mobile genetic elements. However, recent advances in methodology have revealed that their abundance and potential activities have been underestimated. This review aims to illustrate the role of asRNA in various physiologically crucial functions in both archaea and bacteria, which can be regrouped in three categories: cell maintenance, horizontal gene transfer and virulence. A literature survey of asRNAs demonstrates the difficulties to characterize and assign a role to asRNAs. With the aim of facilitating this task, we describe recent technological advances that could be of interest to identify new asRNAs and to discover their function.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maxence Lejars
- CNRS UMR8261, IBPC, 13 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005, Paris, France.
| | - Asaki Kobayashi
- SABNP, INSERM U1204, Université d'Evry Val-d'Essonne, Bâtiment Maupertuis, Rue du Père Jarlan, 91000, Évry Cedex, France.
| | - Eliane Hajnsdorf
- CNRS UMR8261, IBPC, 13 rue Pierre et Marie Curie, 75005, Paris, France.
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Although bacterial genomes are usually densely protein-coding, genome-wide mapping approaches of transcriptional start sites revealed that a significant fraction of the identified promoters drive the transcription of noncoding RNAs. These can be
trans
-acting RNAs, mainly originating from intergenic regions and, in many studied examples, possessing regulatory functions. However, a significant fraction of these noncoding RNAs consist of natural antisense transcripts (asRNAs), which overlap other transcriptional units. Naturally occurring asRNAs were first observed to play a role in bacterial plasmid replication and in bacteriophage λ more than 30 years ago. Today’s view is that asRNAs abound in all three domains of life. There are several examples of asRNAs in bacteria with clearly defined functions. Nevertheless, many asRNAs appear to result from pervasive initiation of transcription, and some data point toward global functions of such widespread transcriptional activity, explaining why the search for a specific regulatory role is sometimes futile. In this review, we give an overview about the occurrence of antisense transcription in bacteria, highlight particular examples of functionally characterized asRNAs, and discuss recent evidence pointing at global relevance in RNA processing and transcription-coupled DNA repair.
Collapse
|
13
|
Joh K, Matsuhisa F, Kitajima S, Nishioka K, Higashimoto K, Yatsuki H, Kono T, Koseki H, Soejima H. Growing oocyte-specific transcription-dependent de novo DNA methylation at the imprinted Zrsr1-DMR. Epigenetics Chromatin 2018; 11:28. [PMID: 29875017 PMCID: PMC5989421 DOI: 10.1186/s13072-018-0200-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2018] [Accepted: 05/31/2018] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Zrsr1 is a paternally expressed imprinted gene located in the first intron of Commd1, and the Zrsr1 promoter resides in a differentially methylated region (DMR) that is maternally methylated in the oocyte. However, a mechanism for the establishment of the methylation has remained obscure. Commd1 is transcribed in the opposite direction to Zrsr1 with predominant maternal expression, especially in the adult brain.
Results We found Commed1 transcribed through the DMR in the growing oocyte. Zrsr1-DMR methylation was abolished by the prevention of Commd1 transcription. Furthermore, methylation did not occur at the artificially unmethylated maternal Zrsr1-DMR during embryonic development when transcription through the DMR was restored in the zygote. Loss of methylation at the maternal Zrsr1-DMR resulted in biallelic Zrsr1 expression and reduced the extent of the predominant maternal expression of Commd1. Conclusions These results indicate that the establishment of methylation at Zrsr1-DMR occurs in a transcription-dependent and oocyte-specific manner and caused Zrsr1 imprinting by repressing maternal expression. The predominant maternal expression of Commd1 is likely caused by transcriptional interference by paternal Zrsr1 expression. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13072-018-0200-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Keiichiro Joh
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan.
| | - Fumikazu Matsuhisa
- Division of Biological Resources and Development, Analytical Research Center for Experimental Sciences, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan
| | - Shuji Kitajima
- Division of Biological Resources and Development, Analytical Research Center for Experimental Sciences, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan
| | - Kenichi Nishioka
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan
| | - Ken Higashimoto
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan
| | - Hitomi Yatsuki
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan
| | - Tomohiro Kono
- Laboratory of Animal Developmental Biology, Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Applied Biosciences, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, 156-8502, Japan
| | - Haruhiko Koseki
- Laboratory for Developmental Genetics, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Science, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0045, Japan
| | - Hidenobu Soejima
- Division of Molecular Genetics and Epigenetics, Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Saga University, Saga, 849-8501, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Abstract
A large number of antisense transcripts have been detected in diverse microbial genomes and considerable effort has been devoted to elucidating the functional role of antisense transcription. In this study, we reanalysed extensive RNA sequencing data from the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and found that the majority of genes have a propensity for antisense transcription. Although antisense transcripts were found in more than 80 % of the genes of the P. aeruginosa genome, the majority of sequencing reads were mapping sense and only a minority (<2 %) were mapping antisense to genes. Similarly to the sense expression levels, the antisense expression levels varied under different environmental conditions, with the sense and antisense expression levels often being inversely regulated and modulated by the activity of alternative sigma factors. Environment-modulated antisense transcription showed a bias towards being antisense to genes within regions of genomic plasticity and to those encoding small regulatory RNAs. In the future, the validation and functional characterization of antisense transcripts, and novel transcripts that are antisense to small regulatory RNAs in particular, have the potential to contribute to our understanding of the various levels of transcriptional regulation and its dynamics in the bacterial pathogen P. aeruginosa.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Denitsa Eckweiler
- Present address: Institute of Microbiology and Braunschweig Integrated Centre of Systems Biology, Braunschweig, Germany.,Department of Molecular Bacteriology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.,Institute of Molecular Bacteriology, TWINCORE, Centre of Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, Hannover, a joint venture of the Hannover Medical School and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Susanne Häussler
- Institute of Molecular Bacteriology, TWINCORE, Centre of Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, Hannover, a joint venture of the Hannover Medical School and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany.,Department of Molecular Bacteriology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Braunschweig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Battogtokh D, Kojima S, Tyson JJ. Modeling the interactions of sense and antisense Period transcripts in the mammalian circadian clock network. PLoS Comput Biol 2018; 14:e1005957. [PMID: 29447160 PMCID: PMC5831635 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2017] [Revised: 02/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that antisense transcription plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. The circadian clock is no exception: an antisense transcript of the mammalian core-clock gene PERIOD2 (PER2), which we shall refer to as Per2AS RNA, oscillates with a circadian period and a nearly 12 h phase shift from the peak expression of Per2 mRNA. In this paper, we ask whether Per2AS plays a regulatory role in the mammalian circadian clock by studying in silico the potential effects of interactions between Per2 and Per2AS RNAs on circadian rhythms. Based on the antiphasic expression pattern, we consider two hypotheses about how Per2 and Per2AS mutually interfere with each other's expression. In our pre-transcriptional model, the transcription of Per2AS RNA from the non-coding strand represses the transcription of Per2 mRNA from the coding strand and vice versa. In our post-transcriptional model, Per2 and Per2AS transcripts form a double-stranded RNA duplex, which is rapidly degraded. To study these two possible mechanisms, we have added terms describing our alternative hypotheses to a published mathematical model of the molecular regulatory network of the mammalian circadian clock. Our pre-transcriptional model predicts that transcriptional interference between Per2 and Per2AS can generate alternative modes of circadian oscillations, which we characterize in terms of the amplitude and phase of oscillation of core clock genes. In our post-transcriptional model, Per2/Per2AS duplex formation dampens the circadian rhythm. In a model that combines pre- and post-transcriptional controls, the period, amplitude and phase of circadian proteins exhibit non-monotonic dependencies on the rate of expression of Per2AS. All three models provide potential explanations of the observed antiphasic, circadian oscillations of Per2 and Per2AS RNAs. They make discordant predictions that can be tested experimentally in order to distinguish among these alternative hypotheses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dorjsuren Battogtokh
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- * E-mail: (DB); (JJT)
| | - Shihoko Kojima
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Biocomplexity Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Division of Systems Biology, Academy of Integrated Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, United States of America
| | - John J. Tyson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Biocomplexity Institute, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, United States of America
- Division of Systems Biology, Academy of Integrated Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, United States of America
- * E-mail: (DB); (JJT)
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Bordoy AE, Varanasi US, Courtney CM, Chatterjee A. Transcriptional Interference in Convergent Promoters as a Means for Tunable Gene Expression. ACS Synth Biol 2016; 5:1331-1341. [PMID: 27346626 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.5b00223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
An important goal of synthetic biology involves the extension and standardization of novel biological elements for applications in medicine and biotechnology. Transcriptional interference, occurring in sets of convergent promoters, offers a promising mechanism for building elements for the design of tunable gene regulation. Here, we investigate the transcriptional interference mechanisms of antisense roadblock and RNA polymerase traffic in a set of convergent promoters as novel modules for synthetic biology. We show examples of elements, including antisense roadblock, relative promoter strengths, interpromoter distance, and sequence content that can be tuned to give rise to repressive as well as cooperative behaviors, therefore resulting in distinct gene expression patterns. Our approach will be useful toward engineering new biological devices and will bring new insights to naturally occurring cis-antisense systems. Therefore, we are reporting a new biological tool that can be used for synthetic biology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Antoni E. Bordoy
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, ‡BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, UCB 596, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| | - Usha S. Varanasi
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, ‡BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, UCB 596, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| | - Colleen M. Courtney
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, ‡BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, UCB 596, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| | - Anushree Chatterjee
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, ‡BioFrontiers Institute, University of Colorado Boulder, 3415 Colorado Avenue, UCB 596, Boulder, Colorado 80303, United States
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Hao N, Palmer AC, Ahlgren-Berg A, Shearwin KE, Dodd IB. The role of repressor kinetics in relief of transcriptional interference between convergent promoters. Nucleic Acids Res 2016; 44:6625-38. [PMID: 27378773 PMCID: PMC5001618 DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkw600] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2015] [Accepted: 06/22/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcriptional interference (TI), where transcription from a promoter is inhibited by the activity of other promoters in its vicinity on the same DNA, enables transcription factors to regulate a target promoter indirectly, inducing or relieving TI by controlling the interfering promoter. For convergent promoters, stochastic simulations indicate that relief of TI can be inhibited if the repressor at the interfering promoter has slow binding kinetics, making it either sensitive to frequent dislodgement by elongating RNA polymerases (RNAPs) from the target promoter, or able to be a strong roadblock to these RNAPs. In vivo measurements of relief of TI by CI or Cro repressors in the bacteriophage λ PR-PRE system show strong relief of TI and a lack of dislodgement and roadblocking effects, indicative of rapid CI and Cro binding kinetics. However, repression of the same λ promoter by a catalytically dead CRISPR Cas9 protein gave either compromised or no relief of TI depending on the orientation at which it binds DNA, consistent with dCas9 being a slow kinetics repressor. This analysis shows how the intrinsic properties of a repressor can be evolutionarily tuned to set the magnitude of relief of TI.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nan Hao
- Discipline of Biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Adam C Palmer
- Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Alexandra Ahlgren-Berg
- Discipline of Biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Keith E Shearwin
- Discipline of Biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| | - Ian B Dodd
- Discipline of Biochemistry, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
| |
Collapse
|