Project description:Upstream of N-ras (UNR) is a conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates mRNA translation and stability by binding to sites generally located in untranslated regions (UTRs). In Drosophila, sex-specific binding of UNR to various RNAs plays key roles in the control of X chromosome dosage compensation in both sexes. In order to investigate broader sex-specific functions of UNR, we have identified its RNA targets in adult male and female flies by high-throughput RNA binding and transcriptome analysis. Here we show that UNR binds to a large set of protein-coding transcripts and to a smaller set of non-coding RNAs in a sex-specific fashion. The analyses also reveal a strong correlation between sex-specific binding of UNR and sex-specific differential expression of UTRs in target genes. Validation experiments indicate that UNR indeed recognizes sex-specifically processed transcripts. These results suggest that UNR exploits the transcript diversity generated by alternative processing and alternative promoter usage to bind and regulate target genes in a sex-specific manner.
Project description:Upstream of N-ras (UNR) is a conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates mRNA translation and stability by binding to sites generally located in untranslated regions (UTRs). In Drosophila, sex-specific binding of UNR to various RNAs plays key roles in the control of X chromosome dosage compensation in both sexes. In order to investigate broader sex-specific functions of UNR, we have identified its RNA targets in adult male and female flies by high-throughput RNA binding and transcriptome analysis. Here we show that UNR binds to a large set of protein-coding transcripts and to a smaller set of non-coding RNAs in a sex-specific fashion. The analyses also reveal a strong correlation between sex-specific binding of UNR and sex-specific differential expression of UTRs in target genes. Validation experiments indicate that UNR indeed recognizes sex-specifically processed transcripts. These results suggest that UNR exploits the transcript diversity generated by alternative processing and alternative promoter usage to bind and regulate target genes in a sex-specific manner. Of the total 6 chips, three are independent immunoprecipitations, while the other three microarrays are their dye-swaps (same IPs).
Project description:Upstream of N-ras (UNR) is a conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates mRNA translation and stability by binding to sites generally located in untranslated regions (UTRs). In Drosophila, sex-specific binding of UNR to msl2 mRNA and the non-coding RNA roX plays key roles in the control of X-chromosome dosage compensation in both sexes. In order to investigate broader sex-specific functions of UNR, we have identified its RNA targets in adult male and female flies by high-throughput RNA binding and transcriptome analysis. Here we show that UNR binds to a large set of protein-coding transcripts and to a smaller set of non-coding RNAs in a sex-specific fashion.
Project description:Upstream of N-ras (UNR) is a conserved RNA-binding protein that regulates mRNA translation and stability by binding to sites generally located in untranslated regions (UTRs). In Drosophila, sex-specific binding of UNR to msl2 mRNA and the non-coding RNA roX plays key roles in the control of X-chromosome dosage compensation in both sexes. In order to investigate broader sex-specific functions of UNR, we have identified its RNA targets in adult male and female flies by high-throughput RNA binding and transcriptome analysis. Here we show that UNR binds to a large set of protein-coding transcripts and to a smaller set of non-coding RNAs in a sex-specific fashion. Two replicates of UNR IP were performed in D.melanogaster adult males and females, and enrichment in either sex was compared with IgG IP as control. To correlate sex-specific UNR binding with sex-specific transcription and splicing we performed RNA-Seq experiments in males and females.
Project description:Alternative polyadenylation (APA) has been implicated in a variety of developmental and disease processes, such as stem cell differentiation and cancer. A particularly dramatic form of APA has been documented in the developing nervous system of flies and mammals, whereby a variety of neurogenic genes undergo coordinate extension of their 3’ UTRs. In Drosophila, the RNA-binding protein ELAV inhibits RNA processing at proximal polyadenylation (poly(A)) sites, thereby fostering the formation of 3’ extensions that can reach 12 kb in length. Here, we present evidence that paused Pol II plays an important role in the selective recruitment of ELAV to elongated genes. Replacing native promoters of elongated genes with heterologous promoters blocks normal 3’ extension in the nervous system, while native promoters can induce 3’ extension in ectopic tissues expressing ELAV. Computational analyses suggest that the promoter regions of elongated genes tend to contain paused Pol II and associated cis-regulatory elements such as GAGA. ELAV ChIP-Seq assays indicate pervasive binding to the promoter regions of extended genes. Our study provides the first evidence for a regulatory link between promoter-proximal pausing and APA. ELAV ChIP-Seq assays were conducted with nuclei obtained from 6-8 hr and 10-12 hr embryos
Project description:Alternative polyadenylation (APA) has been implicated in a variety of developmental and disease processes, such as stem cell differentiation and cancer. A particularly dramatic form of APA has been documented in the developing nervous system of flies and mammals, whereby a variety of neurogenic genes undergo coordinate extension of their 3’ UTRs. In Drosophila, the RNA-binding protein ELAV inhibits RNA processing at proximal polyadenylation (poly(A)) sites, thereby fostering the formation of 3’ extensions that can reach 12 kb in length. Here, we present evidence that paused Pol II plays an important role in the selective recruitment of ELAV to elongated genes. Replacing native promoters of elongated genes with heterologous promoters blocks normal 3’ extension in the nervous system, while native promoters can induce 3’ extension in ectopic tissues expressing ELAV. Computational analyses suggest that the promoter regions of elongated genes tend to contain paused Pol II and associated cis-regulatory elements such as GAGA. ELAV ChIP-Seq assays indicate pervasive binding to the promoter regions of extended genes. Our study provides the first evidence for a regulatory link between promoter-proximal pausing and APA.
Project description:We sequenced mRNA from head tissue of females and male of Drosophila melanogaster to identify genes differentially expressed between the sexes and sex-specific alternative splicing events. For data usage terms and conditions, please refer to http://www.genome.gov/27528022 and http://www.genome.gov/Pages/Research/ENCODE/ENCODEDataReleasePolicyFinal2008.pdf