Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

18 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Fundamental relationship between operon organization and gene expression.

ABSTRACT: Half a century has passed since the discovery of operons (groups of genes that are transcribed together as a single mRNA). Despite the importance of operons in bacterial gene networks, the relationship between their organization and gene expression remains poorly understood. Here we show using synthetic operons in Escherichia coli that the expression of a given gene increases with the length of the operon and as its position moves farther from the end of the operon. These findings can be explained by a common mechanism; increasing the distance from the start of a gene to the end of the operon (termed the "transcription distance") provides more time for translation to occur during transcription, resulting in increased expression. We confirmed experimentally that the increased expression is indeed due to increased translation. Furthermore our analysis indicates the translation initiation rate for an mRNA is sixfold greater during transcription than after its release, which amplifies the impact of the transcription distance on gene expression. As a result of these mechanisms, gene expression increases by ∼40% for each 1,000 nucleotides of transcription distance. In summary, we demonstrate that a fundamental relationship exists between gene expression and the number, length, and order of the genes in an operon. This relationship has important implications for understanding the functional basis of genome organization and practical applications for synthetic biology.

SUBMITTER: Lim HN

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3127940 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Similar Datasets

Noncontiguous operon is a genetic organization for coordinating bacterial gene expression.

Project description:Bacterial genes are typically grouped into operons defined as clusters of adjacent genes encoding for proteins that fill related roles and are transcribed into a single polycistronic mRNA molecule. This simple organization provides an efficient mechanism to coordinate the expression of neighboring genes and is at the basis of gene regulation in bacteria. Here, we report the existence of a higher level of organization in operon structure that we named noncontiguous operon and consists in an operon containing a gene(s) that is transcribed in the opposite direction to the rest of the operon. This transcriptional architecture is exemplified by the genes menE-menC-MW1733-ytkD-MW1731 involved in menaquinone synthesis in the major human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus We show that menE-menC-ytkD-MW1731 genes are transcribed as a single transcription unit, whereas the MW1733 gene, located between menC and ytkD, is transcribed in the opposite direction. This genomic organization generates overlapping transcripts whose expression is mutually regulated by transcriptional interference and RNase III processing at the overlapping region. In light of our results, the canonical view of operon structure should be revisited by including this operon arrangement in which cotranscription and overlapping transcription are combined to coordinate functionally related gene expression.

| S-EPMC6358700 | biostudies-literature

Interplay of gene expression noise and ultrasensitive dynamics affects bacterial operon organization.

Project description:Bacterial chromosomes are organized into polycistronic cotranscribed operons, but the evolutionary pressures maintaining them are unclear. We hypothesized that operons alter gene expression noise characteristics, resulting in selection for or against maintaining operons depending on network architecture. Mathematical models for 6 functional classes of network modules showed that three classes exhibited decreased noise and 3 exhibited increased noise with same-operon cotranscription of interacting proteins. Noise reduction was often associated with a decreased chance of reaching an ultrasensitive threshold. Stochastic simulations of the lac operon demonstrated that the predicted effects of transcriptional coupling hold for a complex network module. We employed bioinformatic analysis to find overrepresentation of noise-minimizing operon organization compared with randomized controls. Among constitutively expressed physically interacting protein pairs, higher coupling frequencies appeared at lower expression levels, where noise effects are expected to be dominant. Our results thereby suggest an important role for gene expression noise, in many cases interacting with an ultrasensitive switch, in maintaining or selecting for operons in bacterial chromosomes.

| S-EPMC3431296 | biostudies-literature

The relationship between nanoscale genome organization and gene expression in mouse embryonic stem cells during pluripotency transition.

Project description:During early development, gene expression is tightly regulated. However, how genome organization controls gene expression during the transition from naïve embryonic stem cells to epiblast stem cells is still poorly understood. Using single-molecule microscopy approaches to reach nanoscale resolution, we show that genome remodeling affects gene transcription during pluripotency transition. Specifically, after exit from the naïve pluripotency state, chromatin becomes less compacted, and the OCT4 transcription factor has lower mobility and is more bound to its cognate sites. In epiblast cells, the active transcription hallmark, H3K9ac, decreases within the Oct4 locus, correlating with reduced accessibility of OCT4 and, in turn, with reduced expression of Oct4 nascent RNAs. Despite the high variability in the distances between active pluripotency genes, distances between Nodal and Oct4 decrease during epiblast specification. In particular, highly expressed Oct4 alleles are closer to nuclear speckles during all stages of the pluripotency transition, while only a distinct group of highly expressed Nodal alleles are in close proximity to Oct4 when associated with a nuclear speckle in epiblast cells. Overall, our results provide new insights into the role of the spatiotemporal genome remodeling during mouse pluripotency transition and its correlation with the expression of key pluripotency genes.

| S-EPMC11317139 | biostudies-literature

A fundamental relationship between genotype frequencies and fitnesses.

Project description:The set of possible postselection genotype frequencies in an infinite, randomly mating population is found. Geometric mean heterozygote frequency divided by geometric mean homozygote frequency equals two times the geometric mean heterozygote fitness divided by geometric mean homozygote fitness. The ratio of genotype frequencies provides a measure of genetic variation that is independent of allele frequencies. When this ratio does not equal two, either selection or population structure is present. Within-population HapMap data show population-specific patterns, while pooled data show an excess of homozygotes.

| S-EPMC2567358 | biostudies-other

To explore the relationship between new gene expression / mutation and survival of patients in colorectal cancer

Project description:Interventions: Case vs control:No Primary outcome(s): High-throughput sequencing Study Design: Case-Control study

| 2676067 | ecrin-mdr-crc

Relationship between regulatory pattern of gene expression level and gene function.

Project description:Regulation of gene expression levels is essential for all living systems and transcription factors (TFs) are the main regulators of gene expression through their ability to repress or induce transcription. A balance between synthesis and degradation rates controls gene expression levels. To determine which rate is dominant, we analyzed the correlation between expression levels of a TF and its regulated gene based on a mathematical model. We selected about 280,000 expression patterns of 355 TFs and 647 regulated genes using DNA microarray data from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data repository. Based on our model, correlation between the expressions of TF-regulated gene pairs corresponds to tuning of the synthesis rate, whereas no correlation indicates excessive synthesis and requires tuning of the degradation rate. The gene expression relationships between TF-regulated gene pairs were classified into four types that correspond to different gene regulatory mechanisms. It was surprising that fewer than 20% of these genes were governed by the familiar regulatory mechanism, i.e., through the synthesis rate. Moreover, we performed pathway analysis and found that each classification type corresponded to distinct gene functions: cellular regulation pathways were dominant in the type with synthesis rate regulation and terms associated with diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease were dominant in the type with degradation rate regulation. Interestingly, these diseases are caused by the accumulation of proteins. These results indicated that gene expression is regulated structurally, not arbitrarily, according to the gene function. This funding is indicative of a systematic control of transcription processes at the whole-cell level.

| S-EPMC5426767 | biostudies-literature

Modeling the relationship between gene expression and mutational signature.

Project description:BackgroundMutational signatures computed from somatic mutations, allow an in-depth understanding of tumorigenesis and may illuminate early prevention strategies. Many studies have shown the regulation effects between somatic mutation and gene expression dysregulation.MethodsWe hypothesized that there are potential associations between mutational signature and gene expression. We capitalized upon RNA-seq data to model 49 established mutational signatures in 33 cancer types. Both accuracy and area under the curve were used as performance measures in five-fold cross-validation.ResultsA total of 475 models using unconstrained genes, and 112 models using protein-coding genes were selected for future inference purposes. An independent gene expression dataset on lung cancer smoking status was used for validation which achieved over 80% for both accuracy and area under the curve.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that the associations between gene expression and somatic mutations can translate into the associations between gene expression and mutational signatures.

| S-EPMC10078980 | biostudies-literature

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Gene Superfamily in Populus: Organization and Expression Divergence between Paralogous Gene Pairs.

Project description:Aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDHs) constitute a superfamily of NAD(P)+-dependent enzymes that catalyze the irreversible oxidation of a wide range of reactive aldehydes to their corresponding nontoxic carboxylic acids. ALDHs have been studied in many organisms from bacteria to mammals; however, no systematic analyses incorporating genome organization, gene structure, expression profiles, and cis-acting elements have been conducted in the model tree species Populus trichocarpa thus far. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily was performed. A total of 26 Populus ALDH genes were found to be distributed across 12 chromosomes. Genomic organization analysis indicated that purifying selection may have played a pivotal role in the retention and maintenance of PtALDH gene families. The exon-intron organizations of PtALDHs were highly conserved within the same family, suggesting that the members of the same family also may have conserved functionalities. Microarray data and qRT-PCR analysis indicated that most PtALDHs had distinct tissue-specific expression patterns. The specificity of cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of the PtALDHs and the divergence of expression patterns between nine paralogous PtALDH gene pairs suggested that gene duplications may have freed the duplicate genes from the functional constraints. The expression levels of some ALDHs were up- or down-regulated by various abiotic stresses, implying that the products of these genes may be involved in the adaptation of Populus to abiotic stresses. Overall, the data obtained from our investigation contribute to a better understanding of the complexity of the Populus ALDH gene superfamily and provide insights into the function and evolution of ALDH gene families in vascular plants.

| S-EPMC4409362 | biostudies-literature

Organization and expression of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides cycFG operon.

Project description:The Rhodobacter sphaeroides cycFG operon has been cloned, sequenced, and mapped to approximately coordinate 2500 of chromosome I. The cycF gene encodes cytochrome c554, a member of the class II family of soluble cytochrome c proteins. The cycF open reading frame includes a 20-amino acid extension at its N terminus which has not been detected in cytochrome c554. Antiserum against cytochrome c554 shows that this protein is localized to the periplasm of wild-type cells, which suggests that this N-terminal extension functions as a signal peptide. The predicted cycG gene product is a diheme cytochrome c with a subunit molecular mass of approximately 32 kDa. While a cytochrome with the properties predicted for CycG has not been reported for R. sphaeroides, we have tentatively identified this protein as a heme-staining polypeptide that is associated with membranes. CycG could have an overall structure similar to that of several other electron carriers, since the similarity between the predicted amino acid sequence of CycG and other multiheme cytochrome c proteins extends throughout the polypeptide. The cycFG transcript is approximately 1,500 nucleotides long and has a single 5' end 26 nucleotides upstream of the start of cycF translation. Expression of cycFG is regulated at the level of mRNA accumulation, since approximately fivefold-higher levels of both cycF-specific transcript and cytochrome c554 protein are detected in cell extracts from aerobic cultures in comparison with those from anaerobically grown cells. Although cytochrome c554 was detected under all growth conditions tested, the highest levels of this protein were found when cells generate energy via aerobic respiration.

| S-EPMC177178 | biostudies-other

Relationship between operon preference and functional properties of persistent genes in bacterial genomes.

Project description:BackgroundGenes in bacteria may be organised into operons, leading to strict co-expression of the genes that participate in the same operon. However, comparisons between different bacterial genomes have shown that much of the operon structure is dynamic on an evolutionary time scale. This indicates that there are opposing effects influencing the tendency for operon formation, and these effects may be reflected in properties like evolutionary rate, complex formation, metabolic pathways and gene fusion.ResultsWe have used multi-species protein-protein comparisons to generate a high-quality set of genes that are persistent in bacterial genomes (i.e. they have close to universal distribution). We have analysed these genes with respect to operon participation and important functional properties, including evolutionary rate and protein-protein interactions.ConclusionsGenes for ribosomal proteins show a very slow rate of evolution. This is consistent with a strong tendency for the genes to participate in operons and for their proteins to be involved in essential and well defined complexes. Persistent genes for non-ribosomal proteins can be separated into two classes according to tendency to participate in operons. Those with a strong tendency for operon participation make proteins with fewer interaction partners that seem to participate in relatively static complexes and possibly linear pathways. Genes with a weak tendency for operon participation tend to produce proteins with more interaction partners, but possibly in more dynamic complexes and convergent pathways. Genes that are not regulated through operons are therefore more evolutionary constrained than the corresponding operon-associated genes and will on average evolve more slowly.

| S-EPMC2837039 | biostudies-literature

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

OmicsDI is an Elixir interoperability service. Learn more ›

Tweets

OmicsDI Databases

PRIDE
PeptideAtlas
MassIVE
JPOST Repository
Physiome Model Repository

EGA
EVA
ENA
LINCS
PAXDB
Cell Collective

MetaboLights
Metabolomics Workbench
MetabolomeExpress
GNPS
BioModels
FAIRDOMHub

ArrayExpress
dbGaP
ExpressionAtlas
GEO
NODE

Information

Databases
Help
API
Contact us
Code on GitHub
Terms of use
Submit Data