scholarly journals Progressive lengthening of 3′ untranslated regions of mRNAs by alternative polyadenylation during mouse embryonic development

2009 ◽  
Vol 106 (17) ◽  
pp. 7028-7033 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Ji ◽  
Ju Youn Lee ◽  
Zhenhua Pan ◽  
Bingjun Jiang ◽  
Bin Tian

The 3′ untranslated regions (3′ UTRs) of mRNAs containcis-acting elements for posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. Here, we report that mouse genes tend to express mRNAs with longer 3′ UTRs as embryonic development progresses. This global regulation is controlled by alternative polyadenylation and coordinates with initiation of organogenesis and aspects of embryonic development, including morphogenesis, differentiation, and proliferation. Using myogenesis of C2C12 myoblast cells as a model, we recapitulated this process in vitro and found that 3′ UTR lengthening is likely caused by weakening of mRNA polyadenylation activity. Because alternative 3′ UTR sequences are typically longer and have higher AU content than constitutive ones, our results suggest that lengthening of 3′ UTR can significantly augment posttranscriptional control of gene expression during embryonic development, such as microRNA-mediated regulation.

1998 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 307-321
Author(s):  
John E. Hesketh ◽  
M. Helena Vasconcelos ◽  
Giovanna Bermano

Nutrition has marked influences on gene expression and an understanding of the interaction between nutrients and gene expression is important in order to provide a basis for determining the nutritional requirements on an individual basis. The effects of nutrition can be exerted at many stages between transcription of the genetic sequence and production of a functional protein. This review focuses on the role of post-transcriptional control, particularly mRNA stability, translation and localization, in the interactions of nutrients with gene expression. The effects of both macronutrients and micronutrients on regulation of gene expression by post-transcriptional mechanisms are presented and the post-transcriptional regulation of specific genes of nutritional relevance (glucose transporters, transferrin, selenoenzymes, metallothionein, lipoproteins) is described in detail. The function of the regulatory signals in the untranslated regions of the mRNA is highlighted in relation to control of mRNA stability, translation and localization and the importance of these mRNA regions to regulation by nutrients is illustrated by reference to specific examples. The localization of mRNA by signals in the untranslated regions and its function in the spatial organization of protein synthesis is described; the potential of such mechanisms to play a key part in nutrient channelling and metabolic compartmentation is discussed. It is concluded that nutrients can influence gene expression through control of the regulatory signals in these untranslated regions and that the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by these mechanisms may influence nutritional requirements. It is emphasized that in studies of nutritional control of gene expression it is important not to focus only on regulation through gene promoters but also to consider the possibility of post-transcriptional control.


2005 ◽  
Vol 289 (5) ◽  
pp. C1240-C1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryvonne Baudouin-Legros ◽  
Alexandre Hinzpeter ◽  
Amandine Jaulmes ◽  
Franck Brouillard ◽  
Bruno Costes ◽  
...  

Expression of the cystic fibrosis (CF) transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, which contains the mutations responsible for CF, is regulated by cytokines (TNF-α and IL-1β) in a cell-specific manner. TNF-α decreases CFTR mRNA in human colon cell lines (HT-29), but not in pulmonary cell lines (Calu-3), and IL-1β increases it only in Calu-3 cells. We looked for the cytokine-induced posttranscriptional regulation of CFTR gene expression and studied the modulation of CFTR mRNA stability linked to its 3′ untranslated sequence (3′UTR) in HT-29 and Calu-3 cells. The stability of CFTR mRNA was analyzed by Northern blot after in vitro incubation of total RNAs from CFTR-expressing cells with cytosolic proteins extracted from control or cytokine-treated HT-29 and Calu-3 cells. CFTR mRNA was degraded only by extracts of TNF-α-treated HT-29 cells and not by cytosolic proteins from untreated or IL-1β-treated HT-29 cells. In contrast, extracts of untreated Calu-3 cells enhanced CFTR mRNA degradation, and IL-1β treatment inhibited this; TNF-α had no significant effect. The 3′UTR part of CFTR mRNA was found to be required for this posttranscriptional regulation. The 5′ part of the 3′UTR (the 217 first bases), which contains two AUUUA sequences, was implicated in CFTR mRNA destabilization and the following 136 bases, containing several C-repeats in U-rich environment, in its protection. The proteins, which reacted with the U- and C-repeats of CFTR mRNA 3′UTR, were mainly controlled by stimulation of the p42/p44 and p38 MAP kinase cascades with interaction between these pathways. This posttranscriptional control of gene expression is a common feature of CFTR and many proteins of inflammation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Baou ◽  
Andrew Jewell ◽  
John J. Murphy

Posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression of mRNAs containing adenine-uridine rich elements (AREs) in their untranslated regions is mediated by a number of different proteins that interact with these elements to either stabilise or destabilise them. The present review concerns the TPA-inducible sequence 11 (TIS11) protein family, a small family of proteins, that appears to interact with ARE-containing mRNAs and promote their degradation. This family of proteins has been extensively studied in the past decade. Studies have focussed on determining their biochemical functions, identifying their target mRNAs, and determining their roles in cell functions and diseases.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yale S. Michaels ◽  
Mike B. Barnkob ◽  
Hector Barbosa ◽  
Toni A. Baeumler ◽  
Mary K. Thompson ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTPrecise, analogue regulation of gene expression is critical for development, homeostasis and regeneration in mammals. In contrast, widely employed experimental and therapeutic approaches such as knock-in/out strategies are more suitable for binary control of gene activity, while RNA interference (RNAi) can lead to pervasive off-target effects and unpredictable levels of repression. Here we report on a method for the precise control of gene expression levels in mammalian cells based on engineered, synthetic microRNA response elements (MREs). To develop this system, we established a high-throughput sequencing approach for measuring the efficacy of thousands of miR-17 MRE variants. This allowed us to create a library of microRNA silencing-mediated fine-tuners (miSFITs) of varying strength that can be employed to control the expression of user specified genes. To demonstrate the value of this technology, we used a panel of miSFITs to tune the expression of a peptide antigen in a mouse melanoma model. This analysis revealed that antigen expression level is a key determinant of the anti-tumour immune response in vitro and in vivo. miSFITs are a powerful tool for modulating gene expression output levels with applications in research and cellular engineering.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon M Trainor ◽  
Dimitri G Pestov ◽  
Natalia Shcherbik

The conventional view regarding regulation of gene expression is based on transcription control. However, a growing number of recent studies has revealed the important additional impact of translational regulation. Eukaryotic translational machinery appears to be capable of reprogramming mRNA translation to generate proteins required to maintain a healthy cellular proteostasis under particular physiological conditions or to adapt to stress. Although the mechanisms of such remarkable regulation are beginning to emerge, recent studies have identified the ribosome as one of the major constituents of translation-dependent control of gene expression that is especially important during stress. Built of RNA and proteins, ribosomes are susceptible to environmental and intracellular stresses. How stress-modified ribosomes regulate translation and whether they play a role in stress-induced gene expression remain largely elusive. This knowledge gap is likely due to the lack of an appropriate experimental system. Canonical approaches based on exposing cells or cell-free extracts to stressors provide inconclusive results due to off-target effects of modifying agents. Here we describe a robust and simple in vitro assay that allows separation of yeast ribosomes from other translational machinery constituents, followed by reconstitution of the translation reaction. This ribosome separation and reconstitution assay (RSR) is highly advantageous, as it allows modification of ribosomes without compromising other key translational components, followed by supplementing the ribosomes back into translation reactions containing undamaged, translationally-competent yeast lysate. Besides addressing the impact of ribosome-derived stress on translation, RSR can also be used to characterize mutated ribosomes and ribosomes devoid of associated factors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (22) ◽  
pp. 7608-7619 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchen Yang ◽  
Yun Li ◽  
Aziz Sancar ◽  
Onur Oztas

The circadian clock in plants temporally coordinates biological processes throughout the day, synchronizing gene expression with diurnal environmental changes. Circadian oscillator proteins are known to regulate the expression of clock-controlled plant genes by controlling their transcription. Here, using a high-throughput RNA-Seq approach, we examined genome-wide circadian and diurnal control of the Arabidopsis transcriptome, finding that the oscillation patterns of different transcripts of multitranscript genes can exhibit substantial differences and demonstrating that the circadian clock affects posttranscriptional regulation. In parallel, we found that two major posttranscriptional mechanisms, alternative splicing (AS; especially intron retention) and alternative polyadenylation (APA), display circadian rhythmicity resulting from oscillation in the genes involved in AS and APA. Moreover, AS-related genes exhibited rhythmic AS and APA regulation, adding another layer of complexity to circadian regulation of gene expression. We conclude that the Arabidopsis circadian clock not only controls transcription of genes but also affects their posttranscriptional regulation by influencing alternative splicing and alternative polyadenylation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lionel Condé ◽  
Yulemi Gonzalez Quesada ◽  
Florence Bonnet-Magnaval ◽  
Rémy Beaujois ◽  
Luc DesGroseillers

AbstractBackgroundStaufen2 (STAU2) is an RNA binding protein involved in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. In neurons, STAU2 is required to maintain the balance between differentiation and proliferation of neural stem cells through asymmetric cell division. However, the importance of controlling STAU2 expression for cell cycle progression is not clear in non-neuronal dividing cells. We recently showed that STAU2 transcription is inhibited in response to DNA-damage due to E2F1 displacement from theSTAU2gene promoter. We now study the regulation of STAU2 steady-state levels in unstressed cells and its consequence for cell proliferation.ResultsCRISPR/Cas9-mediated and RNAi-dependent STAU2 depletion in the non-transformed hTERT-RPE1 cells both facilitate cell proliferation suggesting that STAU2 expression influences pathway(s) linked to cell cycle controls. Such effects are not observed in the CRISPR STAU2-KO cancer HCT116 cells nor in the STAU2-RNAi-depleted HeLa cells. Interestingly, a physiological decrease in the steady-state level of STAU2 is controlled by caspases. This effect of peptidases is counterbalanced by the activity of the CHK1 pathway suggesting that STAU2 partial degradation/stabilization fines tune cell cycle progression in unstressed cells. A large-scale proteomic analysis using STAU2/biotinylase fusion protein identifies known STAU2 interactors involved in RNA translation, localization, splicing, or decay confirming the role of STAU2 in the posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression. In addition, several proteins found in the nucleolus, including proteins of the ribosome biogenesis pathway and of the DNA damage response, are found in close proximity to STAU2. Strikingly, many of these proteins are linked to the kinase CHK1 pathway, reinforcing the link between STAU2 functions and the CHK1 pathway. Indeed, inhibition of the CHK1 pathway for 4 h dissociates STAU2 from proteins involved in translation and RNA metabolism.ConclusionsThese results indicate that STAU2 is involved in pathway(s) that control(s) cell proliferation, likely via mechanisms of posttranscriptional regulation, ribonucleoprotein complex assembly, genome integrity and/or checkpoint controls. The mechanism by which STAU2 regulates cell growth likely involves caspases and the kinase CHK1 pathway.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5532-5535 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Abate ◽  
D Luk ◽  
E Gagne ◽  
R G Roeder ◽  
T Curran

The products of c-fos and c-jun (Fos and Jun) function in gene regulation by interacting with the AP-1 binding site. Here we have examined the contribution of Fos and Jun toward transcriptional activity by using Fos and Jun polypeptides purified from Escherichia coli. Fos contained a transcriptional activation domain as well as a region which exerted a negative influence on transcriptional activity in vitro. Moreover, distinct activation domains in both Fos and Jun functioned cooperatively in transcriptional stimulation. Thus, regulation of gene expression by Fos and Jun results from an integration of several functional domains in a bimolecular complex.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine Da Rocha ◽  
Caroline Bournaud ◽  
Julie Dazeniere ◽  
Peter Thorpe ◽  
Clement Pellegrin ◽  
...  

Root-knot nematodes are the major contributor to the crop losses caused by nematodes. Root-knot nematodes secrete effectors into the plant, derived from two sets of pharyngeal gland cells, to manipulate host physiology and immunity. Successful completion of the life cycle, involving successive molts from egg to adult, covers morphologically and functionally distinct stages and will require precise control of gene expression, including effectors. The details of how root-knot nematodes regulate transcription remain sparse. Here, we report a life stage-specific transcriptome of Meloidogyne incognita. Combined with an available annotated genome, we explore the spatio-temporal regulation of gene expression. We reveal gene expression clusters and predicted functions that accompany the major developmental transitions. Focusing on effectors, we identify a putative cis-regulatory motif associated with expression in the dorsal glands: providing an insight into effector regulation. We combine the presence of this motif with several other criteria to predict a novel set of putative dorsal gland effectors. Finally, we show this motif, and thereby its utility, is broadly conserved across the Meloidogyne genus and termed it Mel-DOG. Taken together, we provide the first genome-wide analysis of spatio-temporal gene expression in a root-knot nematode, and identify a new set of candidate effector genes that will guide future functional analyses.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document