Science：转录启动子新功能

生物通报道，康奈尔大学分子生物学与遗传学系的带领的研究小组在Science上发表文章，讲述人类基因组上的启动子区域的新发现

　　

生物通报道，康奈尔大学分子生物学与遗传学系的Jonhn T. Lis带领的研究小组在Science上发表文章，讲述人类基因组上的启动子区域的新发现。

 

RNA聚合酶具有高度的分子调节机制。本研究中，研究小组用一种GRO-seq方法绘制在整个基因组范围上参与转录的RNA聚合酶的位置、数量和定位。在该方法中，核连缀(转录)RNAs易于测序并在基因组上定位分析。

 

研究者发现，临近启动子的多聚酶存在于人类基因上的多达30%，转录延伸超越了pre-mRNA 3’cleavage，并且反义的转录子居多。此外，大部分的启动子在聚合酶的上游，并且annotated 基因的反方向。这个分叉的多聚酶与活化基因有关，但与启动子的功能没有联系。

 

这些结果表明，聚合酶与调节子的相互作用是在启动子区域产生的，启动子对转录的定位和效率具有调节作用。

 

John T. Lis

John Lis is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics. He did his graduate research at Brandeis University and received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1975. His postdoctoral work focused on Drosophila gene regulation and chromosome structure at Stanford University, during which time he was supported by a fellowship from the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation. Dr. Lis joined the faculty at Cornell in 1978. His research program has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, including a MERIT Award, March of Dimes, American Cancer Society, Cornell Biotechnology Institute, and a Proctor and Gamble University Exploratory Research Grant.

 

research and scholarship focus

My lab investigates molecular mechanisms of gene regulation in eukaryotes using as a primary model the robustly and rapidly activated heat shock genes. Our strategy is to develop and to apply microscopic and molecular methods that provide high-resolution views of the protein/DNA architecture and regulation of these genes in vivo, both in normal cells and in cells where particular transcription factors are depleted or disrupted by RNAi, mutations, drugs, or RNA aptamer inhibitors. The RNA aptamers are of particular interest to us as they provide alternatives to small-molecular-weight "drugs" and can be selected in vitro from a combinatorial sequence pool for their affinity to a target molecule. The chemical and biological properties of RNAs that allow efficient production and regeneration have made such aptamers versatile molecular probes of biological mechanisms like transcription regulation. RNA aptamers possess tremendous potential relative to small organic compounds in experimental and therapeutic manipulations. When expressed under the control of specific promoters, they are able to modulate or perturb molecular interactions with high temporal and spatial precision in tissue culture cells or animals.