Project description:We have sequenced miRNA libraries from human embryonic, neural and foetal mesenchymal stem cells. We report that the majority of miRNA genes encode mature isomers that vary in size by one or more bases at the 3’ and/or 5’ end of the miRNA. Northern blotting for individual miRNAs showed that the proportions of isomiRs expressed by a single miRNA gene often differ between cell and tissue types. IsomiRs were readily co-immunoprecipitated with Argonaute proteins in vivo and were active in luciferase assays, indicating that they are functional. Bioinformatics analysis predicts substantial differences in targeting between miRNAs with minor 5’ differences and in support of this we report that a 5’ isomiR-9-1 gained the ability to inhibit the expression of DNMT3B and NCAM2 but lost the ability to inhibit CDH1 in vitro. This result was confirmed by the use of isomiR-specific sponges. Our analysis of the miRGator database indicates that a small percentage of human miRNA genes express isomiRs as the dominant transcript in certain cell types and analysis of miRBase shows that 5’ isomiRs have replaced canonical miRNAs many times during evolution. This strongly indicates that isomiRs are of functional importance and have contributed to the evolution of miRNA genes
Project description:We have characterized allele-specific regulation of replication in human cultured primary basophilic erythroblasts using TimEX-seq. We show that in most of the genome the timing of replication of the two chromosome homologs is robustly and tightly regulated since the two alleles replicate almost at the same time. We also show that small genetic differences such as SNPs and indels do not affect replication timing. We identify two major causes of replication asynchrony: the presence of large structural variants and parental imprinting. Both are associated with the formation of asynchronously replicated domains that can reach several megabases in size. We also report that replication timing domains have a previously undetected fine structure. Compare DNA content in cells in S and G1 phase of cell cycle using TimEX-seq The goal of these experiments was to measure the timing of replication in human basophilic erythroblasts in an allele-specific manner by comparing DNA content in cells in S and G1 phase of cell cycle using TimEX-seq. Cells in S phase were obtained by sorting propidium iodide stained exponentially growing basophilic erythroblasts produce after 14 days of culture of circulating peripheral blood stem and progenitor cells. The cells in G1, which are used to normalize the results from the cells in S phase for mapability, were circulating mononuclear cells (WBCs) which are in the G1 cell for the cell cycle at 99.5%. The processed files represent S/G1 ratio values which are surrogate values for the timing of replication. Allele-specific TimEX-seq profiles and hi-resolution non-allele specific profiles are provided at different smoothing levels. The following processed files are derived from the multiple files as indicated below; >FNY01_3_2_Ery_MAT_S.bed is generated from FNY01_3_2_Ery_round *_S_Phase.bed >FNY01_3_2_Ery_PAT_S.bed is generated from FNY01_3_2_Ery_round *_S_Phase.bed >FNY01_3_2_Ery_MAT_G1.bed is generated from FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_600.bed FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_300.bed >FNY01_3_2_WBC_PAT_G1.bed is generated from FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_600.bed FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_300.bed >FNY01_3_2_Ery_S_G1 ratio_MAT_100kb_smooth.bedGraph is from FNY01_3_2_Ery_MAT_S.bed FNY01_3_2_Ery_MAT_G1.bed >FNY01_3_2_Ery_S_G1 ratio_PAT_100kb_smooth.bedGraph is from FNY01_3_2_Ery_PAT_S.bed FNY01_3_2_Ery_PAT_G1.bed >FNY01_3_2_Ery_S_G1 ratio_unsmooth.bedGraph, FNY01_3_2_Ery_S_G1 ratio_20Kb_smooth.bedGraph, and FNY01_3_2_Ery_S_G1 ratio_100Kb_smooth.bedGraph are from FNY01_3_2_Ery_round *_S_Phase.bed FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_600.bed FNY01_3_2_WBC_round *_G1_300.bed >FNY01_3_2&3_3_Ery* files are generated from 14 .bed files linked to the corresponding sample records. Please note that *3_3* files follow the same pattern as *3_2*