Gao Zongliang, Harwig Alex, Berkhout Ben, Herrera-Carrillo Elena
a Laboratory of Experimental Virology, Department of Medical Microbiology, Center for Infection and immunity Amsterdam (CINIMA), Academic Medical Center , University of Amsterdam , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.
Transcription. 2017;8(5):275-287. doi: 10.1080/21541264.2017.1322170. Epub 2017 Jun 9.
Type 3 RNA polymerase III (Pol III) promoters are widely used for the expression of small RNAs such as short hairpin RNA and guide RNA in the popular RNAi and CRISPR-Cas gene regulation systems. Although it is generally believed that type 3 Pol III promoters use a defined transcription start site (+1 position), most man-made promoter constructs contain local sequence alterations of which the impact on transcription efficiency and initiation accuracy is not known. For three human type 3 Pol III promoters (7SK, U6, and H1), we demonstrated that the nucleotides around the +1 position affect both the transcriptional efficiency and start site selection. Human 7SK and U6 promoters with A or G at the +1 position efficiently produced small RNAs with a precise +1 start site. The human H1 promoter with +1A or G also efficiently produced small RNAs but from multiple start sites in the -3/-1 window. These results provide new insights for the design of vectors for accurate expression of designed small RNAs for research and therapeutic purposes.
3型RNA聚合酶III(Pol III)启动子被广泛用于在流行的RNA干扰(RNAi)和CRISPR-Cas基因调控系统中表达小RNA,如短发夹RNA和引导RNA。虽然人们普遍认为3型Pol III启动子使用一个确定的转录起始位点(+1位置),但大多数人工启动子构建体都包含局部序列改变,其对转录效率和起始准确性的影响尚不清楚。对于三种人类3型Pol III启动子(7SK、U6和H1),我们证明了+1位置周围的核苷酸会影响转录效率和起始位点选择。在+1位置带有A或G的人类7SK和U6启动子能高效产生具有精确+1起始位点的小RNA。带有+1A或G的人类H1启动子也能高效产生小RNA,但来自-3/-1窗口中的多个起始位点。这些结果为设计用于准确表达用于研究和治疗目的的设计小RNA的载体提供了新的见解。