Publication Details

Quadruplex DNA in long terminal repeats in maize LTR retrotransposons inhibits the expression of a reporter gene in yeast

TOKAN Viktor, PUTEROVÁ Janka, LEXA Matej and KEJNOVSKÝ Eduard. Quadruplex DNA in long terminal repeats in maize LTR retrotransposons inhibits the expression of a reporter gene in yeast. BMC Genomics, vol. 19, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-11. ISSN 1471-2164. Available from: https://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-018-4563-7
Czech title
Kvadruplexová DNA v dlouhých terminálních opakováních u LTR retrotransposonů kukuřice inhibuje expresi reporterového genu v kvasinkách
Type
journal article
Language
english
Authors
Tokan Viktor, Mgr. (IBP)
Puterová Janka, Ing., Ph.D. (DIFS FIT BUT)
Lexa Matej, Ing., Ph.D. (FI MUNI)
Kejnovský Eduard, doc. RNDr., CSc. (SCI MUNI)
URL
Keywords

G4 motif, Quadruplex DNA, Transposable elements, Maize LTR retrotransposons, Circular dichroism, NMM ligand

Abstract

Many studies have shown that guanine-rich DNA sequences form quadruplex structures in vitro but there is scarce evidence of guanine quadruplexes (G4) in vivo. The majority of potential quadruplex-forming sequences (PQS) are located in transposable elements (TEs), especially close to promoters within long terminal repeats of plant LTR retrotransposons. 

In order to test the potential effect of G4s on retrotransposon expression, we cloned the long terminal repeats of selected maize LTR retrotransposons upstream of the lacZ reporter gene and measured its transcription and translation in yeast. We found that G4s had an inhibitory effect on translation in vivo since "mutants" (where guanines were replaced by adenines in PQS) showed higher expression levels than wild-types. In parallel, we confirmed by circular dichroism measurements that the selected sequences can indeed adopt G4 conformation in vitro. Analysis of RNA-Seq of polyA RNA in maize seedlings grown in the presence of a G4-stabilizing ligand (NMM) showed both inhibitory as well as stimulatory effects on the transcription of LTR retrotransposons.

Our results demonstrate that quadruplex DNA located within long terminal repeats of LTR retrotransposons can be formed in vivo and that it plays a regulatory role in the LTR retrotransposon life-cycle, thus also affecting genome dynamics.

Annotation
Published
2018
Pages
1-11
Journal
BMC Genomics, vol. 19, no. 1, ISSN 1471-2164
Publisher
Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
DOI
UT WoS
000427128900005
EID Scopus
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{FITPUB11562,
   author = "Viktor Tokan and Janka Puterov\'{a} and Matej Lexa and Eduard Kejnovsk\'{y}",
   title = "Quadruplex DNA in long terminal repeats in maize LTR retrotransposons inhibits the expression of a reporter gene in yeast",
   pages = "1--11",
   journal = "BMC Genomics",
   volume = 19,
   number = 1,
   year = 2018,
   ISSN = "1471-2164",
   doi = "10.1186/s12864-018-4563-7",
   language = "english",
   url = "https://www.fit.vut.cz/research/publication/11562"
}
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