TY - JOUR
T1 - Transcriptome complexity in a genome-reduced bacterium
AU - Güell, Marc
AU - Van Noort, Vera
AU - Yus, Eva
AU - Chen, Wei Hua
AU - Leigh-Bell, Justine
AU - Michalodimitrakis, Konstantinos
AU - Yamada, Takuji
AU - Arumugam, Manimozhiyan
AU - Doerks, Tobias
AU - Kühner, Sebastian
AU - Rode, Michaela
AU - Suyama, Mikita
AU - Schmidt, Sabine
AU - Gavin, Anne Claude
AU - Bork, Peer
AU - Serrano, Luis
PY - 2009/11/27
Y1 - 2009/11/27
N2 - To study basic principles of transcriptome organization in bacteria, we analyzed one of the smallest self-replicating organisms. Mycoplasma pneumoniae. We combined strand-specific tiling arrays, complemented by transcriptome sequencing, with more than 252 spotted arrays. We detected 117 previously undescribed, mostly noncoding transcripts, 89 of them in antisense configuration to known genes. We identified 341 operons, of which 139 are polycistronic; almost half of the latter show decaying expression in a staircase-like manner. Under various conditions, operons could be divided into 447 smaller transcriptional units, resulting in many alternative transcripts. Frequent antisense transcripts, alternative transcripts, and multiple regulators per gene imply a highly dynamic transcriptome, more similar to that of eukaryotes than previously thought.
AB - To study basic principles of transcriptome organization in bacteria, we analyzed one of the smallest self-replicating organisms. Mycoplasma pneumoniae. We combined strand-specific tiling arrays, complemented by transcriptome sequencing, with more than 252 spotted arrays. We detected 117 previously undescribed, mostly noncoding transcripts, 89 of them in antisense configuration to known genes. We identified 341 operons, of which 139 are polycistronic; almost half of the latter show decaying expression in a staircase-like manner. Under various conditions, operons could be divided into 447 smaller transcriptional units, resulting in many alternative transcripts. Frequent antisense transcripts, alternative transcripts, and multiple regulators per gene imply a highly dynamic transcriptome, more similar to that of eukaryotes than previously thought.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.1176951
DO - 10.1126/science.1176951
M3 - Article
C2 - 19965477
AN - SCOPUS:70849119931
VL - 326
SP - 1268
EP - 1271
JO - Science
JF - Science
SN - 0036-8075
IS - 5957
ER -