title: Transcriptome complexity in a genome-reduced bacterium.
abstract: To study basic principles of transcriptome organization in bacteria, we analyzed one of the smallest self-replicating organisms, Mycoplasma pneumoniae. We combined strand-specific tiling arrays, complemented by transcriptome sequencing, with more than 252 spotted arrays. We detected 117 previously undescribed, mostly noncoding transcripts, 89 of them in antisense configuration to known genes. We identified 341 operons, of which 139 are polycistronic; almost half of the latter show decaying expression in a staircase-like manner. Under various conditions, operons could be divided into 447 smaller transcriptional units, resulting in many alternative transcripts. Frequent antisense transcripts, alternative transcripts, and multiple regulators per gene imply a highly dynamic transcriptome, more similar to that of eukaryotes than previously thought.
authors: Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors: Marc
authors: M
authors: Güell
authors: Vera
authors: V
authors: van Noort
authors: Eva
authors: E
authors: Yus
authors: Wei-Hua
authors: WH
authors: Chen
authors: Justine
authors: J
authors: Leigh-Bell
authors: Konstantinos
authors: K
authors: Michalodimitrakis
authors: Takuji
authors: T
authors: Yamada
authors: Manimozhiyan
authors: M
authors: Arumugam
authors: Tobias
authors: T
authors: Doerks
authors: Sebastian
authors: S
authors: Kühner
authors: Michaela
authors: M
authors: Rode
authors: Mikita
authors: M
authors: Suyama
authors: Sabine
authors: S
authors: Schmidt
authors: Anne-Claude
authors: AC
authors: Gavin
authors: Peer
authors: P
authors: Bork
authors: Luis
authors: L
authors: Serrano
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D009876:Operon; D016372:RNA, Antisense / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D016372:RNA, Antisense; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D022661:RNA, Untranslated