The landscape of RNA polymerase II transcription initiation in C. elegans reveals promoter and enhancer architectures.

ABSTRACT: RNA polymerase transcription initiation sites are largely unknown in Caenorhabditis elegans. The initial 5' end of most protein-coding transcripts is removed by trans-splicing, and noncoding initiation sites have not been investigated. We characterized the landscape of RNA Pol II transcription initiation, identifying 73,500 distinct clusters of initiation. Bidirectional transcription is frequent, with a peak of transcriptional pairing at 120 bp. We assign transcription initiation sites to 7691 protein-coding genes and find that they display features typical of eukaryotic promoters. Strikingly, the majority of initiation events occur in regions with enhancer-like chromatin signatures. Based on the overlap of transcription initiation clusters with mapped transcription factor binding sites, w

SUBMITTER: Chen RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3730107 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature