Abstract
Yeast genes that are transcribed on the antisense strand have distinct promoter architectures at their 3’ regions and are proposed to show transcriptional plasticity (1). Here we show that antisense transcription influences the chromatin in the vicinity of the sense promoter at the 5’ region of the gene. Most yeast genes experience some degree of antisense transcription and this is associated with different nucleosome dynamics, positioning and patterns of histone modifications at the 5’ promoter and within the first 1kb of the transcribed region compared to genes with low levels or no antisense transcription in this region. The chromatin organisation at genes expressing both sense and antisense transcripts is not that expected for two convergent transcription units. The implications of distinct chromatin structures for sense and antisense transcription units will be discussed in the context of gene regulation particularly temporal regulation during the yeast metabolic cycle (YMC) .
(1) Murray, S.C., Serra Barros, A., Brown, D.A., Dudek, P., Ayling, J., and Mellor, J. (2012). A pre-initiation complex at the 3′-end of genes drives antisense transcription independent of divergent sense transcription. Nucleic Acids Res 40, 2432-2444.