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RNA metabolism

Promoters drive alternative polyadenylation

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 16, page 66 (2015)Cite this article

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promoters... are essential for Elav-mediated 3′ UTR extension

To determine what genetic elements are necessary for 3′ UTR extension, the authors examined the activity of transgenes in Drosophila melanogaster embryos. The transgenes encode GFP, followed by the 3′ UTRs of Elav or Brain tumour (Brat), two genes that undergo Elav-mediated 3′ UTR extension. The expression of short and extended 3′ UTRs in the nervous system was monitored by double labelling and co-localization with GFP sequences, to distinguish between transgene and endogenous mRNAs, but the authors could not detect co-localization of GFP sequences with extended 3′ UTRs. Remarkably, when they replaced the core promoter of the transgenes with native promoters of the two extended genes, GFP co-localization with extended 3′ UTRs was clearly detected. To determine whether ectopic expression of Elav could drive 3′ UTR extension in other tissues, the authors examined embryonic muscles, in which Elav and Brat are not expressed. Following ectopic expression of Elav and the transgenes, all the promoters tested could drive robust GFP expression; however, only the Elav and Brat promoters, and not the core promoter, could support Elav-mediated 3′ UTR extension. Furthermore, the Elav promoter could drive the expression of Brat extended 3′ UTRs. Thus, the promoters of extended genes are essential for Elav-mediated 3′ UTR extension.

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References

  1. Oktaba, K. et al. Elav links paused Pol II to alternative polyadenylation in the Drosophila nervous system. Mol. Cell http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2014.11.024 (2015)

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  1. Eytan Zlotorynski
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Zlotorynski, E. Promoters drive alternative polyadenylation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 16, 66 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3940

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