RNA G-quadruplexes are globally unfolded in eukaryotic cells and depleted in bacteria

In vitro, some RNAs can form stable four-stranded structures known as G-quadruplexes. Although RNA G-quadruplexes have been implicated in posttranscriptional gene regulation and diseases, direct evidence for their formation in cells has been lacking. Here, we identified thousands of mammalian RNA re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2016-09, Vol.353 (6306), p.1382-1382
Main Authors: Guo, Junjie U., Bartel, David P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bacteria
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - metabolism
Cells
Depletion
Escherichia coli
Escherichia coli - genetics
Escherichia coli - metabolism
Eukaryotes
Eukaryotic Cells - metabolism
Evolutionary
G-Quadruplexes
HEK293 Cells
Humans
In vitro testing
Mammals
RESEARCH ARTICLE SUMMARY
Ribonucleic acid
Ribonucleic acids
RNA
RNA - chemistry
RNA Folding
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - genetics
Saccharomyces cerevisiae - metabolism
Sulfuric Acid Esters - chemistry
Transcriptome
Translations
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Summary:In vitro, some RNAs can form stable four-stranded structures known as G-quadruplexes. Although RNA G-quadruplexes have been implicated in posttranscriptional gene regulation and diseases, direct evidence for their formation in cells has been lacking. Here, we identified thousands of mammalian RNA regions that can fold into G-quadruplexes in vitro, but in contrast to previous assumptions, these regions were overwhelmingly unfolded in cells. Model RNA G-quadruplexes that were unfolded in eukaryotic cells were folded when ectopically expressed in Escherichia coli; however, they impaired translation and growth, which helps explain why we detected few G-quadruplex-forming regions in bacterial transcriptomes. Our results suggest that eukaryotes have a robust machinery that globally unfolds RNA G-quadruplexes, whereas some bacteria have instead undergone evolutionary depletion of G-quadruplex-forming sequences.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aaf5371