Open AccessUnstable Tandem Repeats in Promoters Confer Transcriptional Evolvability
Author(s) -
Marcelo D. Vinces,
Matthieu Legendre,
Marina Caldara,
Masaki Hagihara,
Kevin J. Verstrepen
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 12.556
H-Index - 1186
eISSN - 1095-9203
pISSN - 0036-8075
DOI - 10.1126/science.1170097
Subject(s) - biology , promoter , genetics , tandem repeat , gene , saccharomyces cerevisiae , phenotype , evolvability , genome , chromatin , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , coding region , regulatory sequence
Relative to most regions of the genome, tandemly repeated DNA sequences display a greater propensity to mutate. A search for tandem repeats in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome revealed that the nucleosome-free region directly upstream of genes (the promoter region) is enriched in repeats. As many as 25% of all gene promoters contain tandem repeat sequences. Genes driven by these repeat-containing promoters show significantly higher rates of transcriptional divergence. Variations in repeat length result in changes in expression and local nucleosome positioning. Tandem repeats are variable elements in promoters that may facilitate evolutionary tuning of gene expression by affecting local chromatin structure.