Bidirectional promoters as important drivers for the emergence of species-specific transcripts.

ABSTRACT: The diversification of gene functions has been largely attributed to the process of gene duplication. Novel examples of genes originating from previously untranscribed regions have been recently described without regard to a unifying functional mechanism for their emergence. Here we propose a model mechanism that could generate a large number of lineage-specific novel transcripts in vertebrates through the activation of bidirectional transcription from unidirectional promoters. We examined this model in silico using human transcriptomic and genomic data and identified evidence consistent with the emergence of more than 1,000 primate-specific transcripts. These are transcripts with low coding potential and virtually no functional annotation. They initiate at less than 1 kb upstream of an op

SUBMITTER: Gotea V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3583895 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature