Human Promoters Are Intrinsically Directional

ABSTRACT: Divergent transcription, in which reverse-oriented transcripts occur upstream of eukaryotic promoters in regions devoid of annotated genes, has been suggested to be a general property of active promoters. Here we show that the human basal RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery and core promoter are inherently unidirectional, and that reverse-oriented transcripts originate from their own cognate reverse-directed core promoters. In vitro transcription analysis and mapping of nascent transcripts in cells revealed that core promoters are unidirectional and that sequences at reverse start sites are similar to those of their forward counterparts. The use of DNase I accessibility to define proximal promoter borders revealed that about half of promoters are unidirectional and that these unidi

ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens

SUBMITTER: Scott Lacadie 

PROVIDER: E-GEOD-63872 | biostudies-arrayexpress |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-arrayexpress