Tiny RNAs Associated with Transcription Start Sites in Animals

Overview

Journal Nat Genet

Specialty Genetics

Date 2009 Apr 21

PMID 19377478

Citations 189

Authors

Ryan J Taft

Evgeny A Glazov

Nicole Cloonan

Cas Simons

Stuart Stephen

Geoffrey J Faulkner

Timo Lassmann

Alistair R R Forrest

Sean M Grimmond

Kate Schroder

Katharine Irvine

Takahiro Arakawa

Mari Nakamura

Atsutaka Kubosaki

Kengo Hayashida

Chika Kawazu

Mitsuyoshi Murata

Hiromi Nishiyori

Shiro Fukuda

Jun Kawai

Carsten O Daub

David A Hume

Harukazu Suzuki

Valerio Orlando

Piero Carninci

Yoshihide Hayashizaki

John S Mattick

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

It has been reported that relatively short RNAs of heterogeneous sizes are derived from sequences near the promoters of eukaryotic genes. In conjunction with the FANTOM4 project, we have identified tiny RNAs with a modal length of 18 nt that map within -60 to +120 nt of transcription start sites (TSSs) in human, chicken and Drosophila. These transcription initiation RNAs (tiRNAs) are derived from sequences on the same strand as the TSS and are preferentially associated with G+C-rich promoters. The 5' ends of tiRNAs show peak density 10-30 nt downstream of TSSs, indicating that they are processed. tiRNAs are generally, although not exclusively, associated with highly expressed transcripts and sites of RNA polymerase II binding. We suggest that tiRNAs may be a general feature of transcription in metazoa and possibly all eukaryotes.

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