Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 7 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
Genome Biol. 2010;11(8):R87. doi: 10.1186/gb-2010-11-8-r87. Epub 2010 Aug 26.
Recent studies in budding yeast have shown that antisense transcription occurs at many loci. However, the functional role of antisense transcripts has been demonstrated only in a few cases and it has been suggested that most antisense transcripts may result from promiscuous bi-directional transcription in a dense genome.
Here, we use strand-specific RNA sequencing to study anti-sense transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We detect 1,103 putative antisense transcripts expressed in mid-log phase growth, ranging from 39 short transcripts covering only the 3' UTR of sense genes to 145 long transcripts covering the entire sense open reading frame. Many of these antisense transcripts overlap sense genes that are repressed in mid-log phase and are important in stationary phase, stress response, or meiosis. We validate the differential regulation of 67 antisense transcripts and their sense targets in relevant conditions, including nutrient limitation and environmental stresses. Moreover, we show that several antisense transcripts and, in some cases, their differential expression have been conserved across five species of yeast spanning 150 million years of evolution. Divergence in the regulation of antisense transcripts to two respiratory genes coincides with the evolution of respiro-fermentation.
Our work provides support for a global and conserved role for antisense transcription in yeast gene regulation.
最近在 budding yeast 中的研究表明，反义转录发生在许多基因座上。然而，反义转录本的功能作用仅在少数情况下得到证实，有人认为大多数反义转录本可能是由于密集基因组中混杂的双向转录产生的。
在这里，我们使用链特异性 RNA 测序来研究酿酒酵母中的反义转录。我们在对数中期生长中检测到 1103 个推定的反义转录本，范围从仅覆盖 3'UTR 的 39 个短转录本到覆盖整个 sense 开放阅读框的 145 个长转录本。这些反义转录本中的许多与在对数中期受到抑制并且在静止期、应激反应或减数分裂中很重要的 sense 基因重叠。我们在相关条件下验证了 67 个反义转录本及其 sense 靶标的差异调控，包括营养限制和环境应激。此外，我们表明，在跨越 1.5 亿年进化的五种酵母中，几种反义转录本及其表达的差异在某些情况下是保守的。两种呼吸基因的反义转录本调控的差异与需氧发酵的进化相吻合。
我们的工作为反义转录在酵母基因调控中的普遍和保守作用提供了支持。
