Rho directs widespread termination of intragenic and stable RNA transcription
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ABSTRACT: The transcription termination factor Rho is a global regulator of RNA polymerase (RNAP). Although individual Rho-dependent terminators have been studied extensively, less is known about the sites of RNAP regulation by Rho on a genome-wide scale. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation and microarrays (ChIP-chip), we examined changes in the distribution of Escherichia coli RNAP in response to the Rho-specific inhibitor bicyclomycin (BCM). We found ~200 Rho-terminated loci that were divided evenly into two classes: intergenic (at the ends of genes) and intragenic (within genes). The intergenic class contained noncoding RNAs such as small RNAs (sRNAs) and transfer RNAs (tRNAs), establishing a previously unappreciated role of Rho in termination of stable RNA synthesis. The intragenic class of terminators included a novel set of short antisense transcripts, as judged by a shift in the distribution of RNAP in BCM-treated cells that was opposite to the direction of the corresponding gene. These Rho-terminated antisense transcripts point to a novel role of noncoding transcription in E. coli gene regulation that may resemble the ubiquitous noncoding transcription recently found to play myriad roles in eukaryotic gene regulation.
ORGANISM(S): Escherichia coli Escherichia coli str. K-12 substr. MG1655
PROVIDER: GSE16562 | GEO | 2009/06/23
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA116199
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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