Diversification of gene activation system by acquisition of species-specific non-coding RNAs through insertion/deletion and mutation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24380158
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Basic veterinary science/Basic zootechnical science
• Research Institution: Kyushu University (2013-2014); Kyoto University (2012)
• Principal Investigator: IMAMURA TAKUYA 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (90390682)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ノンコーディングRNA / DNAメチル化 / DNA脱メチル化 / 遺伝子活性化 / 生物多様性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed directional RNA-seq analysis of mouse and chimpanzee tissue samples. Focusing on transcription start sites (TSSs) of protein-coding genes revealed that a significant fraction of them contain switching-points that separate antisense- and sense-biased transcription, suggesting that head-to-head transcription is more prevalent than previously thought. More than 90% of head-to-head type promoters contain CpG islands. Moreover, CCG and CGG repeats are significantly enriched in the upstream regions and downstream regions, respectively, of TSSs located in head-to-head type promoters. Genes with tissue-specific promoter-associated ncRNAs (pancRNAs) show a positive correlation between the expression of their pancRNA and mRNA, which is in accord with the proposed role of pancRNA in facultative gene activation, whereas genes with constitutive expression generally lack pancRNAs. We show here that pancRNA regulates tissue-specific gene expression in a species-dependent manner.

Free Research Field

分子遺伝学