ABSTRACT
Mice have been a long-standing model for human biology and disease. Here we characterize, by RNA sequencing, the transcriptional profiles of a large and heterogeneous collection of mouse tissues, augmenting the mouse transcriptome with thousands of novel transcript candidates. Comparison with transcriptome profiles in human cell lines reveals substantial conservation of transcriptional programmes, and uncovers a distinct class of genes with levels of expression that have been constrained early in vertebrate evolution. This core set of genes captures a substantial fraction of the transcriptional output of mammalian cells, and participates in basic functional and structural housekeeping processes common to all cell types. Perturbation of these constrained genes is associated with significant phenotypes including embryonic lethality and cancer. Evolutionary constraint in gene expression levels is not reflected in the conservation of the genomic sequences, but is associated with conserved epigenetic marking, as well as with characteristic post-transcriptional regulatory programme, in which sub-cellular localization and alternative splicing play comparatively large roles.
Subject(s)
Evolution, Molecular , Gene Expression Regulation , Transcriptome , Alternative Splicing , Animals , Biological Evolution , Cell Line , Epigenesis, Genetic , Gene Expression Profiling , Gene Library , Genome , Histones/chemistry , Humans , Mice , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Models, Genetic , Oligonucleotides, Antisense , Phenotype , Sequence Analysis, RNAABSTRACT
The laboratory mouse shares the majority of its protein-coding genes with humans, making it the premier model organism in biomedical research, yet the two mammals differ in significant ways. To gain greater insights into both shared and species-specific transcriptional and cellular regulatory programs in the mouse, the Mouse ENCODE Consortium has mapped transcription, DNase I hypersensitivity, transcription factor binding, chromatin modifications and replication domains throughout the mouse genome in diverse cell and tissue types. By comparing with the human genome, we not only confirm substantial conservation in the newly annotated potential functional sequences, but also find a large degree of divergence of sequences involved in transcriptional regulation, chromatin state and higher order chromatin organization. Our results illuminate the wide range of evolutionary forces acting on genes and their regulatory regions, and provide a general resource for research into mammalian biology and mechanisms of human diseases.
Subject(s)
Genome/genetics , Genomics , Mice/genetics , Molecular Sequence Annotation , Animals , Cell Lineage/genetics , Chromatin/genetics , Chromatin/metabolism , Conserved Sequence/genetics , DNA Replication/genetics , Deoxyribonuclease I/metabolism , Gene Expression Regulation/genetics , Gene Regulatory Networks/genetics , Genome-Wide Association Study , Humans , RNA/genetics , Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid/genetics , Species Specificity , Transcription Factors/metabolism , Transcriptome/geneticsABSTRACT
Eukaryotic cells make many types of primary and processed RNAs that are found either in specific subcellular compartments or throughout the cells. A complete catalogue of these RNAs is not yet available and their characteristic subcellular localizations are also poorly understood. Because RNA represents the direct output of the genetic information encoded by genomes and a significant proportion of a cell's regulatory capabilities are focused on its synthesis, processing, transport, modification and translation, the generation of such a catalogue is crucial for understanding genome function. Here we report evidence that three-quarters of the human genome is capable of being transcribed, as well as observations about the range and levels of expression, localization, processing fates, regulatory regions and modifications of almost all currently annotated and thousands of previously unannotated RNAs. These observations, taken together, prompt a redefinition of the concept of a gene.
