Heat shock factor binding in Alu repeats expands its involvement in stress through an antisense mechanism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Alu RNAs are present at elevated levels in stress conditions and, consequently, Alu repeats are increasingly being associated with the physiological stress response. Alu repeats are known to harbor transcription factor binding sites that modulate RNA pol II transcription and Alu RNAs act as transcriptional co-repressors through pol II binding in the promoter regions of heat shock responsive genes. An observation of a putative heat shock factor (HSF) binding site in Alu led us to explore whether, through HSF binding, these elements could further contribute to the heat shock response repertoire.

Results

Alu density was significantly enriched in transcripts that are down-regulated following heat shock recovery in HeLa cells. ChIP analysis confirmed HSF binding to a c

SUBMITTER: Pandey R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3334603 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature