Antisense transcription-dependent chromatin signature modulates sense transcription and transcript dynamics

Abstract

Antisense transcription is widespread in genomes. Despite large differences in gene size and architecture, we find that yeast and human genes share a unique, antisense transcription-associated chromatin signature. We asked whether this signature is related to a biological function for antisense transcription. Using quantitative RNA-FISH, we observed changes in sense transcript distributions in nuclei and cytoplasm as antisense transcript levels were altered. To determine the mechanistic differences underlying these distributions, we developed a mathematical framework describing transcription from initiation to transcript degradation. At GAL1, high levels of antisense transcription alters sense transcription dynamics, reducing rates of transcript production and processing, while increasing transcript stability, which is also a genome-wide association. Establishing the antisense transcription-associated chromatin signature through disruption of the Set3C histone deacetylase activity is sufficient to similarly change these rates even in the absence of antisense transcription. Thus, antisense transcription alters sense transcription dynamics in a chromatin-dependent manner.. CC-BY-NC-ND4.0 International license peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under aThe copyright holder for this preprint (which was not . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/187237 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Sep. 11, 2017; 2 Graphical AbstractIn this work, Brown et al. provide a mechanistic understanding of the effect of antisense transcription on the production and fate of sense transcripts. Antisense transcription buffers genes against the action of the Set3 lysine deacetylase, thus altering rates of transcript production, processing and stability.