Department of Electronics, School of Information Science and Technology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Bioinformatics. 2012 Nov 1;28(21):2719-23. doi: 10.1093/bioinformatics/bts534. Epub 2012 Aug 31.
Genome-wide pervasive transcription is widespread in eukaryotes, revealing an extensive array of antisense transcription that involves hundreds of previously unknown non-coding RNAs. Individual cases have shown that antisense transcription influences sense transcription, however, genome-wide mechanisms of how antisense transcription regulates sense transcription remain to be elucidated.
Here, we performed a systematic analysis of sense-antisense transcription and nucleosome occupancy in yeast. We found that antisense transcription is associated with nucleosome occupancy in sense promoters. Using RNA polymerase II inactivation data as a reasonable approximation to antisense transcription inactivation data, we further showed that antisense transcripts increase nucleosome occupancy in sense promoter regions they overlap, and reduce nucleosome occupancy in sense promoter regions around their transcription termination sites. These results reveal the previously unappreciated roles of antisense transcription in directing nucleosome occupancy in sense promoters. Our findings will have implications in understanding regulatory functions of antisense transcription.
全基因组广泛转录在真核生物中广泛存在，揭示了大量涉及数百种以前未知的非编码 RNA 的反义转录。个别情况表明，反义转录会影响有义转录，然而，反义转录调节有义转录的全基因组机制仍有待阐明。
在这里，我们对酵母中的有义-反义转录和核小体占有率进行了系统分析。我们发现反义转录与有义启动子中的核小体占有率有关。使用 RNA 聚合酶 II 失活数据作为反义转录失活数据的合理近似值，我们进一步表明，反义转录本在其重叠的有义启动子区域增加核小体占有率，并在其转录终止位点周围的有义启动子区域减少核小体占有率。这些结果揭示了反义转录在指导有义启动子中核小体占有率方面的先前未被认识的作用。我们的发现将对理解反义转录的调节功能具有重要意义。
