Centre for Genomic Regulation, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Av. Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2011 Aug 12;9(9):658-69. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro2620.
Over the past 3 years, bacterial transcriptomics has undergone a massive revolution. Increased sequencing capacity and novel tools have made it possible to explore the bacterial transcriptome to an unprecedented depth, which has revealed that the transcriptome is more complex and dynamic than expected. Alternative transcripts within operons challenge the classic operon definition, and many small RNAs involved in the regulation of transcription, translation and pathogenesis have been discovered. Furthermore, mRNAs may localize to specific areas in the cell, and the spatial organization and dynamics of the chromosome have been shown to be important for transcription. Epigenetic modifications of DNA also affect transcription, and RNA processing affects translation. Therefore, transcription in bacteria resembles that in eukaryotes in terms of complexity more closely than was previously thought. Here we will discuss the contribution of 'omics' approaches to these discoveries as well as the possible impact that they are expected to have in the future.
在过去的 3 年中，细菌转录组学经历了一场巨大的革命。测序能力的提高和新工具的出现使得人们有可能以前所未有的深度探索细菌转录组，这揭示了转录组比预期的更加复杂和动态。操纵子内的可变转录本挑战了经典的操纵子定义，并且发现了许多参与转录、翻译和发病机制调节的小 RNA。此外，mRNA 可能定位于细胞的特定区域，并且已经表明染色体的空间组织和动态对于转录很重要。DNA 的表观遗传修饰也会影响转录，而 RNA 加工会影响翻译。因此，细菌中的转录在复杂性方面与真核生物更为相似，而不是之前认为的那样。在这里，我们将讨论“组学”方法对这些发现的贡献，以及它们在未来可能产生的影响。
