Plant genome response to incoming coding sequences: stochastic transcriptional activation independent of chromatin configuration
ABSTRACTHorizontal gene transfer can occur between phylogenetically distant organisms, such as prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In these cases, how do the translocated genes acquire transcriptional competency in the alien genome environment? According to the conventional view, specific loci of the eukaryotic genome are thought to provide transcriptional competency to the incoming coding sequences. To examine this possibility, we randomly introduced the promoterless luciferase (LUC)-coding sequences into the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana cultured cells and performed a genome-wide “transgene location vs. expression” scan. We found that one-third of the 4,504 mapped LUC genes were transcribed. However, only 10% of them were explained by conventional transcriptional fusions with the annotated genes, and the remainder of the genes exhibited novel transcription that occurred independently of the chromatin configuration or transcriptional activity inherent to the given chromosomal locus; rather, their transcriptional activation occurred stochastically at about 30% of each insertion event, but independent of the integration sites. We termed this activation phenomenon as an integration-dependent stochastic transcriptional activation, a new type of response of the plant genome to incoming coding sequences. We discuss the possible roles of this phenomenon in the evolution of eukaryotic genomes.