Elucidation of the function of 5' capped antisense promoter-associated RNA

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23710222
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Genome biology
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: DE HOON Michiel 独立行政法人理化学研究所, ライフサイエンス技術基盤研究センター, ユニットリーダー (70525617)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: Transcriptome / Non-coding RNA / Sequencing / Gene regulation

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our project focuses on understanding the biological role of CASPARs, a novel family of RNA molecules that overlap genes near their promoter, which is the key genomic region for regulating the activity of genes. In the THP-1 leukemia cell line, we have identified CASPARs at hundreds of genes, including those coding for transcription factors involved in cancer. Upon inhibition of specific CASPAR transcripts, we found expression changes of these genes, suggesting that the CASPARs are functional and play a role in regulating gene activity. We are currently planning to measure the genome-wide response to CASPAR inhibition using next-generation sequencing. We also subjected the THP-1 cells to PMA stimulation, causing the cells to differentiate into monocytes, and extracted RNA at several time points to measure the dynamic behavior of CASPARs during differentiation. This study thus contributes to our understanding of the regulation of oncogenes, which are typically dysregulated in cancer.

Free Research Field

Molecular Biology