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Adato O, Sloutskin A, Komemi H, Brabb I, Duttke S, Bucher P, Unger R, Juven-Gershon T. ElemeNT 2023: an enhanced tool for detection and curation of core promoter elements. Bioinformatics 2024; 40:btae110. [PMID: 38407414 PMCID: PMC10950481 DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2023] [Revised: 02/04/2024] [Accepted: 02/23/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024] Open
Abstract
MOTIVATION Prediction and identification of core promoter elements and transcription factor binding sites is essential for understanding the mechanism of transcription initiation and deciphering the biological activity of a specific locus. Thus, there is a need for an up-to-date tool to detect and curate core promoter elements/motifs in any provided nucleotide sequences. RESULTS Here, we introduce ElemeNT 2023-a new and enhanced version of the Elements Navigation Tool, which provides novel capabilities for assessing evolutionary conservation and for readily evaluating the quality of high-throughput transcription start site (TSS) datasets, leveraging preferential motif positioning. ElemeNT 2023 is accessible both as a fast web-based tool and via command line (no coding skills are required to run the tool). While this tool is focused on core promoter elements, it can also be used for searching any user-defined motif, including sequence-specific DNA binding sites. Furthermore, ElemeNT's CORE database, which contains predicted core promoter elements around annotated TSSs, is now expanded to cover 10 species, ranging from worms to human. In this applications note, we describe the new workflow and demonstrate a case study using ElemeNT 2023 for core promoter composition analysis of diverse species, revealing motif prevalence and highlighting evolutionary insights. We discuss how this tool facilitates the exploration of uncharted transcriptomic data, appraises TSS quality, and aids in designing synthetic promoters for gene expression optimization. Taken together, ElemeNT 2023 empowers researchers with comprehensive tools for meticulous analysis of sequence elements and gene expression strategies. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION ElemeNT 2023 is freely available at https://www.juven-gershonlab.org/resources/element-v2023/. The source code and command line version of ElemeNT 2023 are available at https://github.com/OritAdato/ElemeNT. No coding skills are required to run the tool.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orit Adato
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Anna Sloutskin
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Hodaya Komemi
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Ian Brabb
- School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, United States
| | - Sascha Duttke
- School of Molecular Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, United States
| | - Philipp Bucher
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Ron Unger
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
| | - Tamar Juven-Gershon
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002, Israel
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Miao L, Batty KR, Jackson AN, Pieno HA, Rhoades MW, Kojima S. Genetic and environmental perturbations alter the rhythmic expression pattern of a circadian long non-coding RNA, Per2AS, in mouse liver. F1000Res 2022; 11:1073. [PMID: 36250003 PMCID: PMC9551389 DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.125628.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a wide variety of biological roles without encoding a protein. Although the functions of many lncRNAs have been uncovered in recent years, the regulatory mechanism of lncRNA expression is still poorly understood despite that the expression patterns of lncRNAs are much more specific compared to mRNAs. Here, we investigated the rhythmic expression of Per2AS, a novel lncRNA that regulates circadian rhythms. Given that Per2AS expression is antiphasic to Period2 ( Per2), a core circadian clock gene, and transcribed from the antisense strand of Per2, we hypothesized that the rhythmic Per2AS expression is driven either by its own promoter or by the rhythmic Per2 transcription via transcriptional interference. Methods: We leveraged existing circadian RNA-seq datasets and analyzed the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2 in response to the genetic or environmental disruption of the circadian rhythm in mouse liver. We tested our hypotheses by comparing the changes in the expression patterns of Per2AS and Per2. Conclusions: We found that, in some cases, Per2AS expression is independently controlled by other circadian transcription factors. In other cases, the pattern of expression change is consistent with both transcriptional interference and independent regulation hypotheses. Although additional experiments will be necessary to distinguish these possibilities, findings from this work contribute to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of how the expression of lncRNA is regulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Miao
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Kyle R. Batty
- Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,Division of Systems Biology, Academy of Integrated Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Ayana N. Jackson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Heather A. Pieno
- Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Maisy W. Rhoades
- Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
| | - Shihoko Kojima
- Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,Division of Systems Biology, Academy of Integrated Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA,
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Bu L, Cripps RM. Promoter architecture of Drosophila genes regulated by Myocyte enhancer factor-2. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0271554. [PMID: 35862472 PMCID: PMC9302807 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0271554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
To gain understanding into the mechanisms of transcriptional activation of muscle genes, we sought to determine if genes targeted by the myogenic transcription factor Myocyte enhancer factor-2 (MEF2) were enriched for specific core promoter elements. We identified 330 known MEF2 target promoters in Drosophila, and analyzed them for for the presence and location of 17 known consensus promoter sequences. As a control, we also searched all Drosophila RNA polymerase II-dependent promoters for the same sequences. We found that promoter motifs were readily detected in the MEF2 target dataset, and that many of them were slightly enriched in frequency compared to the control dataset. A prominent sequence over-represented in the MEF2 target genes was NDM2, that appeared in over 50% of MEF2 target genes and was 2.5-fold over-represented in MEF2 targets compared to background. To test the functional significance of NDM2, we identified two promoters containing a single copy of NDM2 plus an upstream MEF2 site, and tested the activity of these promoters in vivo. Both the sticks and stones and Kahuli fragments showed strong skeletal myoblast-specific expression of a lacZ reporter in embryos. However, the timing and level of reporter expression was unaffected when the NDM2 site in either element was mutated. These studies identify variations in promoter architecture for a set of regulated genes compared to all RNA polymerase II-dependent genes, and underline the potential redundancy in the activities of some core promoter elements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijing Bu
- Department of Biology and Center for Evolutionary and Theoretical Immunology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States of America
| | - Richard M. Cripps
- Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, United States of America
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Li L, Waymack R, Gad M, Wunderlich Z. Two promoters integrate multiple enhancer inputs to drive wild-type knirps expression in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo. Genetics 2021; 219:iyab154. [PMID: 34849867 PMCID: PMC8664596 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyab154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Proper development depends on precise spatiotemporal gene expression patterns. Most developmental genes are regulated by multiple enhancers and often by multiple core promoters that generate similar transcripts. We hypothesize that multiple promoters may be required either because enhancers prefer a specific promoter or because multiple promoters serve as a redundancy mechanism. To test these hypotheses, we studied the expression of the knirps locus in the early Drosophila melanogaster embryo, which is mediated by multiple enhancers and core promoters. We found that one of these promoters resembles a typical "sharp" developmental promoter, while the other resembles a "broad" promoter usually associated with housekeeping genes. Using synthetic reporter constructs, we found that some, but not all, enhancers in the locus show a preference for one promoter, indicating that promoters provide both redundancy and specificity. By analyzing the reporter dynamics, we identified specific burst properties during the transcription process, namely burst size and frequency, that are most strongly tuned by the combination of promoter and enhancer. Using locus-sized reporters, we discovered that enhancers with no promoter preference in a synthetic setting have a preference in the locus context. Our results suggest that the presence of multiple promoters in a locus is due both to enhancer preference and a need for redundancy and that "broad" promoters with dispersed transcription start sites are common among developmental genes. They also imply that it can be difficult to extrapolate expression measurements from synthetic reporters to the locus context, where other variables shape a gene's overall expression pattern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lily Li
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Rachel Waymack
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Mario Gad
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
| | - Zeba Wunderlich
- Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
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Sloutskin A, Shir-Shapira H, Freiman RN, Juven-Gershon T. The Core Promoter Is a Regulatory Hub for Developmental Gene Expression. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:666508. [PMID: 34568311 PMCID: PMC8461331 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.666508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of multicellular organisms and the uniqueness of each cell are achieved by distinct transcriptional programs. Multiple processes that regulate gene expression converge at the core promoter region, an 80 bp region that directs accurate transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II (Pol II). In recent years, it has become apparent that the core promoter region is not a passive DNA component, but rather an active regulatory module of transcriptional programs. Distinct core promoter compositions were demonstrated to result in different transcriptional outputs. In this mini-review, we focus on the role of the core promoter, particularly its downstream region, as the regulatory hub for developmental genes. The downstream core promoter element (DPE) was implicated in the control of evolutionarily conserved developmental gene regulatory networks (GRNs) governing body plan in both the anterior-posterior and dorsal-ventral axes. Notably, the composition of the basal transcription machinery is not universal, but rather promoter-dependent, highlighting the importance of specialized transcription complexes and their core promoter target sequences as key hubs that drive embryonic development, differentiation and morphogenesis across metazoan species. The extent of transcriptional activation by a specific enhancer is dependent on its compatibility with the relevant core promoter. The core promoter content also regulates transcription burst size. Overall, while for many years it was thought that the specificity of gene expression is primarily determined by enhancers, it is now clear that the core promoter region comprises an important regulatory module in the intricate networks of developmental gene expression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Sloutskin
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Hila Shir-Shapira
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Richard N. Freiman
- Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States
| | - Tamar Juven-Gershon
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
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Liu Q, Jiang F, Zhang J, Li X, Kang L. Transcription initiation of distant core promoters in a large-sized genome of an insect. BMC Biol 2021; 19:62. [PMID: 33785021 PMCID: PMC8011201 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01004-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Core promoters have a substantial influence on various steps of transcription, including initiation, elongation, termination, polyadenylation, and finally, translation. The characterization of core promoters is crucial for exploring the regulatory code of transcription initiation. However, the current understanding of insect core promoters is focused on those of Diptera (especially Drosophila) species with small genome sizes. Results Here, we present an analysis of the transcription start sites (TSSs) in the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria, which has a genome size of 6.5 Gb. The genomic differences, including lower precision of transcription initiation and fewer constraints on the distance from transcription factor binding sites or regulatory elements to TSSs, were revealed in locusts compared with Drosophila insects. Furthermore, we found a distinct bimodal log distribution of the distances from the start codons to the core promoters of locust genes. We found stricter constraints on the exon length of mRNA leaders and widespread expression activity of the distant core promoters in locusts compared with fruit flies. We further compared core promoters in seven arthropod species across a broad range of genome sizes to reinforce our results on the emergence of distant core promoters in large-sized genomes. Conclusions In summary, our results provide novel insights into the effects of genome size expansion on distant transcription initiation. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12915-021-01004-5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qing Liu
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Feng Jiang
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.,CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jie Zhang
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China
| | - Le Kang
- Beijing Institutes of Life Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. .,CAS Center for Excellence in Biotic Interactions, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. .,State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
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Ali T, Grote P. Beyond the RNA-dependent function of LncRNA genes. eLife 2020; 9:60583. [PMID: 33095159 PMCID: PMC7584451 DOI: 10.7554/elife.60583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 122] [Impact Index Per Article: 30.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
While long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes have attracted a lot of attention in the last decade, the focus regarding their mechanisms of action has been primarily on the RNA product of these genes. Recent work on several lncRNAs genes demonstrates that not only is the produced RNA species important, but also that transcription of the lncRNA locus alone can have regulatory functions. Like the functions of lncRNA transcripts, the mechanisms that underlie these genome-based functions are varied. Here we highlight some of these examples and provide an outlook on how the functional mechanisms of a lncRNA gene can be determined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamer Ali
- Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration, Centre for Molecular Medicine, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.,Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt
| | - Phillip Grote
- Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration, Centre for Molecular Medicine, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
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Insights into the Functions of LncRNAs in Drosophila. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:ijms20184646. [PMID: 31546813 PMCID: PMC6770079 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20184646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2019] [Revised: 09/11/2019] [Accepted: 09/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs longer than 200 nucleotides (nt). LncRNAs have high spatiotemporal specificity, and secondary structures have been preserved throughout evolution. They have been implicated in a range of biological processes and diseases and are emerging as key regulators of gene expression at the epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional levels. Comparative analyses of lncRNA functions among multiple organisms have suggested that some of their mechanisms seem to be conserved. Transcriptome studies have found that some Drosophila lncRNAs have highly specific expression patterns in embryos, nerves, and gonads. In vivo studies of lncRNAs have revealed that dysregulated expression of lncRNAs in Drosophila may result in impaired embryo development, impaired neurological and gonadal functions, and poor stress resistance. In this review, we summarize the epigenetic, transcriptional, and post-transcriptional mechanisms of lncRNAs and mainly focus on recent insights into the transcriptome studies and biological functions of lncRNAs in Drosophila.
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Bhardwaj V, Semplicio G, Erdogdu NU, Manke T, Akhtar A. MAPCap allows high-resolution detection and differential expression analysis of transcription start sites. Nat Commun 2019; 10:3219. [PMID: 31363093 PMCID: PMC6667505 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11115-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 06/20/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The position, shape and number of transcription start sites (TSS) are critical determinants of gene regulation. Most methods developed to detect TSSs and study promoter usage are, however, of limited use in studies that demand quantification of expression changes between two or more groups. In this study, we combine high-resolution detection of transcription start sites and differential expression analysis using a simplified TSS quantification protocol, MAPCap (Multiplexed Affinity Purification of Capped RNA) along with the software icetea. Applying MAPCap on developing Drosophila melanogaster embryos and larvae, we detected stage and sex-specific promoter and enhancer activity and quantify the effect of mutants of maleless (MLE) helicase at X-chromosomal promoters. We observe that MLE mutation leads to a median 1.9 fold drop in expression of X-chromosome promoters and affects the expression of several TSSs with a sexually dimorphic expression on autosomes. Our results provide quantitative insights into promoter activity during dosage compensation. The position, shape and number of transcription start sites (TSS) regulate gene expression. Here authors present MAPCap, a method for high-resolution detection and differential expression analysis of TSS, and apply MAPCap to early fly development, detecting stage and sex-specific promoter and enhancer activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Bhardwaj
- Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, 79108, Freiburg, Germany.,Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Giuseppe Semplicio
- Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, 79108, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Niyazi Umut Erdogdu
- Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, 79108, Freiburg, Germany.,Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Manke
- Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, 79108, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Asifa Akhtar
- Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics, 79108, Freiburg, Germany.
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