Fast turnover of genome transcription across evolutionary time exposes entire non-coding DNA to de novo gene emergence.

ABSTRACT: Deep sequencing analyses have shown that a large fraction of genomes is transcribed, but the significance of this transcription is much debated. Here, we characterize the phylogenetic turnover of poly-adenylated transcripts in a comprehensive sampling of taxa of the mouse (genus Mus), spanning a phylogenetic distance of 10 Myr. Using deep RNA sequencing we find that at a given sequencing depth transcriptome coverage becomes saturated within a taxon, but keeps extending when compared between taxa, even at this very shallow phylogenetic level. Our data show a high turnover of transcriptional states between taxa and that no major transcript-free islands exist across evolutionary time. This suggests that the entire genome can be transcribed into poly-adenylated RNA when viewed at an evolutiona

SUBMITTER: Neme R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4829534 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature