Widespread polycistronic gene expression in green algae

Journal Article · Fri Feb 12 00:00:00 UTC 2021 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2017714118 · OSTI ID:1779559

Gallaher, Sean D.  ^[1]; Craig, Rory J.  ^[2]; Ganesan, Iniyan  ^[3]; Purvine, Samuel O.  ^[4]; McCorkle, Sean R.  ^[5]; Grimwood, Jane  ^[6]; Strenkert, Daniela  ^[7]; Davidi, Lital  ^[7]; Roth, Melissa S.  ^[8]; Jeffers, Tim L.  ^[8]; Lipton, Mary S. ^[4]; Niyogi, Krishna K.  ^[9]; Schmutz, Jeremy  ^[10]; Theg, Steven M.  ^[3]; Blaby-Haas, Crysten E.  ^[5]; Merchant, Sabeeha S.  ^[11]

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1. UCLA DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095,, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095,
2. Joint Genome Institute, United States Department of Energy, Berkeley, CA 94720,, Institute of Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, United Kingdom,
3. Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616,
4. Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99354,
5. Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973,
6. HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806,
7. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095,
8. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,
9. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,, Division of Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720,, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3102,
10. Joint Genome Institute, United States Department of Energy, Berkeley, CA 94720,, HudsonAlpha Genome Sequencing Center, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, Huntsville, AL 35806,
11. UCLA DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095,, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095,, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720,, Division of Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720

Significance Historically, it has been understood that for gene expression in eukaryotes, each messenger RNA encodes a single protein. With the recent development of technologies to sequence full-length transcripts en masse, we have discovered hundreds of examples in two species of green algae where two, three, or more proteins are translated from a single transcript. These “polycistronic” transcripts are found in diverse species throughout the green algal lineage, which highlights their biological importance. We have leveraged these findings to coexpress pairs of genes on polycistronic transcripts in vitro, which should facilitate efforts to engineer algae for research and industrial applications.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States). Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL); USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: European Molecular Biology Organization; USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830; FC02-02ER63421; SC0012704; SC0017035; SC0018301
• OSTI ID: 1779559
• Report Number(s): BNL--220781-2021-JAAM; PNNL--30295; e2017714118
• Journal Information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 118; ISSN 0027-8424
• Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English