An exonic splicing enhancer within a bidirectional coding sequence regulates alternative splicing of an antisense mRNA

Bichromatic Splicing Detector Allows Quantification of THRA1 and THRA2 Splicing Isoforms in Single Cells by Fluorescent Live-Cell Imaging

Thyroid hormone receptor alpha (THRα) is a nuclear hormone receptor that binds triiodothyronine (T3) and acts as an important transcription factor in development, metabolism, and reproduction. The coding gene, THRA, has two major splicing isoforms in mammals, THRA1 and THRA2, which encode THRα1 and THRα1, respectively. The better characterized isoform, THRα1, is a transcriptional stimulator of genes involved in cell metabolism and growth. The less well-characterized isoform, THRα2, lacks the ligand-binding domain (LBD) and may act as an inhibitor of THRα1 activity. Thus, the ratio of THRα1 to THRα2 isoforms is critical for transcriptional regulation in various tissues and during development and may be abnormal in a number of thyroid hormone resistance syndromes. However, the complete characterization of the THRα isoform expression pattern in healthy human tissues, and especially the study of changes in the ratio of THRα1 to THRα2 in cultured patient cells, has been hampered by the lack of suitable tools to detect the isoform-specific expression patterns. Therefore, we developed a plasmid pCMV-THRA-RFP-EGFP splicing detector that allows the visualization and quantification of the differential expression of THRA1 and THRA2 splicing isoforms in living single cells during time-lapse and perturbation experiments. This tool enables experiments to further characterize the role of THRα2 and to perform high-throughput drug screening. Molecules that modify THRA splicing may be developed into drugs for the treatment of thyroid hormone resistance syndromes.

The Functional Meaning of 5'UTR in Protein-Coding Genes

As it is well known, messenger RNA has many regulatory regions along its sequence length. One of them is the 5' untranslated region (5'UTR), which itself contains many regulatory elements such as upstream ORFs (uORFs), internal ribosome entry sites (IRESs), microRNA binding sites, and structural components involved in the regulation of mRNA stability, pre-mRNA splicing, and translation initiation. Activation of the alternative, more upstream transcription start site leads to an extension of 5'UTR. One of the consequences of 5'UTRs extension may be head-to-head gene overlap. This review describes elements in 5'UTR of protein-coding transcripts and the functional significance of protein-coding genes 5' overlap with implications for transcription, translation, and disease.

TRα2—An Untuned Second Fiddle or Fine-Tuning Thyroid Hormone Action?

Thyroid hormones (THs) control a wide range of physiological functions essential for metabolism, growth, and differentiation. On a molecular level, TH action is exerted by nuclear receptors (TRs), which function as ligand-dependent transcription factors. Among several TR isoforms, the function of TRα2 remains poorly understood as it is a splice variant of TRα with an altered C-terminus that is unable to bind T3. This review highlights the molecular characteristics of TRα2, proposed mechanisms that regulate alternative splicing and indications pointing towards an antagonistic function of this TR isoform in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, remaining knowledge gaps and major challenges that complicate TRα2 characterization, as well as future strategies to fully uncover its physiological relevance, are discussed.

Evolution of the Antisense Overlap between Genes for Thyroid Hormone Receptor and Rev-erbα and Characterization of an Exonic G-Rich Element That Regulates Splicing of TRα2 mRNA

The α-thyroid hormone receptor gene (TRα) codes for two functionally distinct proteins: TRα1, the α-thyroid hormone receptor; and TRα2, a non-hormone-binding variant. The final exon of TRα2 mRNA overlaps the 3' end of Rev-erbα mRNA, which encodes another nuclear receptor on the opposite strand of DNA. To understand the evolution of this antisense overlap, we sequenced these genes and mRNAs in the platypus Orthorhynchus anatinus. Despite its strong homology with other mammals, the platypus TRα/Rev-erbα locus lacks elements essential for expression of TRα2. Comparative analysis suggests that alternative splicing of TRα2 mRNA expression evolved in a stepwise fashion before the divergence of eutherian and marsupial mammals. A short G-rich element (G30) located downstream of the alternative 3'splice site of TRα2 mRNA and antisense to the 3'UTR of Rev-erbα plays an important role in regulating TRα2 splicing. G30 is tightly conserved in eutherian mammals, but is absent in marsupials and monotremes. Systematic deletions and substitutions within G30 have dramatically different effects on TRα2 splicing, leading to either its inhibition or its enhancement. Mutations that disrupt one or more clusters of G residues enhance splicing two- to three-fold. These results suggest the G30 sequence can adopt a highly structured conformation, possibly a G-quadruplex, and that it is part of a complex splicing regulatory element which exerts both positive and negative effects on TRα2 expression. Since mutations that strongly enhance splicing in vivo have no effect on splicing in vitro, it is likely that the regulatory role of G30 is mediated through linkage of transcription and splicing.

Cytoplasmic Control of Sense-Antisense mRNA Pairs

Transcriptome analyses have revealed that convergent gene transcription can produce many 3'-overlapping mRNAs in diverse organisms. Few studies have examined the fate of 3'-complementary mRNAs in double-stranded RNA-dependent nuclear phenomena, and nothing is known about the cytoplasmic destiny of 3'-overlapping messengers or their impact on gene expression. Here, we demonstrate that the complementary tails of 3'-overlapping mRNAs can interact in the cytoplasm and promote post-transcriptional regulatory events including no-go decay (NGD) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genome-wide experiments confirm that these messenger-interacting mRNAs (mimRNAs) form RNA duplexes in wild-type cells and thus have potential roles in modulating the mRNA levels of their convergent gene pattern under different growth conditions. We show that the post-transcriptional fate of hundreds of mimRNAs is controlled by Xrn1, revealing the extent to which this conserved 5'-3' cytoplasmic exoribonuclease plays an unexpected but key role in the post-transcriptional control of convergent gene expression.

Natural antisense transcripts and long non-coding RNA in Neurospora crassa

The prevalence of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) and natural antisense transcripts (NATs) has been reported in a variety of organisms. While a consensus has yet to be reached on their global importance, an increasing number of examples have been shown to be functional, regulating gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level. Here, we use RNA sequencing data from the ABI SOLiD platform to identify lncRNA and NATs obtained from samples of the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa grown under different light and temperature conditions. We identify 939 novel lncRNAs, of which 477 are antisense to annotated genes. Across the whole dataset, the extent of overlap between sense and antisense transcripts is large: 371 sense/antisense transcripts are complementary over 500 nts or more and 236 overlap by more than 1000 nts. Most prevalent are 3′ end overlaps between convergently transcribed sense/antisense pairs, but examples of divergently transcribed pairs and nested transcripts are also present. We confirm the expression of a subset of sense/antisense transcript pairs by qPCR. We examine the size, types of overlap and expression levels under the different environmental stimuli of light and temperature, and identify 11 lncRNAs that are up-regulated in response to light. We also find differences in transcript length and the position of introns between protein-coding transcripts that have antisense expression and transcripts with no antisense expression. These results demonstrate the ability of N. crassa lncRNAs and NATs to be regulated by different environmental stimuli and provide the scope for further investigation into the function of NATs.

Sense-antisense gene pairs: sequence, transcription, and structure are not conserved between human and mouse

Previous efforts to characterize conservation between the human and mouse genomes focused largely on sequence comparisons. These studies are inherently limited because they don't account for gene structure differences, which may exist despite genomic sequence conservation. Recent high-throughput transcriptome studies have revealed widespread and extensive overlaps between genes, and transcripts, encoded on both strands of the genomic sequence. This overlapping gene organization, which produces sense-antisense (SAS) gene pairs, is capable of effecting regulatory cascades through established mechanisms. We present an evolutionary conservation assessment of SAS pairs, on three levels: genomic, transcriptomic, and structural. From a genome-wide dataset of human SAS pairs, we first identified orthologous loci in the mouse genome, then assessed their transcription in the mouse, and finally compared the genomic structures of SAS pairs expressed in both species. We found that approximately half of human SAS loci have single orthologous locations in the mouse genome; however, only half of those orthologous locations have SAS transcriptional activity in the mouse. This suggests that high human-mouse gene conservation overlooks widespread distinctions in SAS pair incidence and expression. We compared gene structures at orthologous SAS loci, finding frequent differences in gene structure between human and orthologous mouse SAS pair members. Our categorization of human SAS pairs with respect to mouse conservation of expression as well as structure points to limitations of mouse models. Gene structure differences, including at SAS loci, may account for some of the phenotypic distinctions between primates and rodents. Genes in non-conserved SAS pairs may contribute to evolutionary lineage-specific regulatory outcomes.

Structure and expression of two nuclear receptor genes in marsupials: insights into the evolution of the antisense overlap between the α-thyroid hormone receptor and Rev-erbα

Background

Alternative processing of α-thyroid hormone receptor (TRα, NR1A1) mRNAs gives rise to two functionally antagonistic nuclear receptors: TRα1, the α-type receptor, and TRα2, a non-hormone binding variant that is found only in mammals. TRα2 shares an unusual antisense coding overlap with mRNA for Rev-erbα (NR1D1), another nuclear receptor protein. In this study we examine the structure and expression of these genes in the gray short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica, in comparison with that of eutherian mammals and three other marsupial species, Didelphis virginiana, Potorous tridactylus and Macropus eugenii, in order to understand the evolution and regulatory role of this antisense overlap.

Results

The sequence, expression and genomic organization of mRNAs encoding TRα1 and Rev-erbα are very similar in the opossum and eutherian mammals. However, the sequence corresponding to the TRα2 coding region appears truncated by almost 100 amino acids. While expression of TRα1 and Rev-erbα was readily detected in all tissues of M. domestica ages 0 days to 18 weeks, TRα2 mRNA was not detected in any tissue or stage examined. These results contrast with the widespread and abundant expression of TRα2 in rodents and other eutherian mammals. To examine requirements for alternative splicing of TRα mRNAs, a series of chimeric minigenes was constructed. Results show that the opossum TRα2-specific 5' splice site sequence is fully competent for splicing but the sequence homologous to the TRα2 3' splice site is not, even though the marsupial sequences are remarkably similar to core splice site elements in rat.

Conclusions

Our results strongly suggest that the variant nuclear receptor isoform, TRα2, is not expressed in marsupials and that the antisense overlap between TRα and Rev-erbα thus is unique to eutherian mammals. Further investigation of the TRα and Rev-erbα genes in marsupial and eutherian species promises to yield additional insight into the physiological function of TRα2 and the role of the associated antisense overlap with Rev-erbα in regulating expression of these genes.