Periodic mRNA synthesis and degradation co-operate during cell cycle gene expression.
During the cell cycle, the levels of hundreds of mRNAs change in a periodic manner, but how this is achieved by alterations in the rates of mRNA synthesis and degradation has not been studied systematically. Here, we used metabolic RNA labeling and comparative dynamic transcriptome analysis (cDTA) to derive mRNA synthesis and degradation rates every 5 min during three cell cycle periods of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. A novel statistical model identified 479 genes that show periodic changes in mRNA synthesis and generally also periodic changes in their mRNA degradation rates. Peaks of mRNA degradation generally follow peaks of mRNA synthesis, resulting in sharp and high peaks of mRNA levels at defined times during the cell cycle. Whereas the timing of mRNA synthesis is set by upstream DNA motifs and their associated transcription factors (TFs), the synthesis rate of a periodically expressed gene is apparently set by its core promoter.
Gene Center and Department of Biochemistry, Center for Integrated Protein Science CIPSM Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Philipp
P
Eser
Carina
C
Demel
Kerstin C
KC
Maier
Björn
B
Schwalb
Nicole
N
Pirkl
Dietmar E
DE
Martin
Patrick
P
Cramer
Achim
A
Tresch
D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D018816:Genes, cdc; D016681:Genome, Fungal; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D020871:RNA Stability / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors