Open AccessRepression of the Hox gene abd-A by ELAV-mediated Transcriptional Interference
Author(s) -
Javier J. Castro Alvarez,
Maxime Revel,
Judit Carrasco,
Fabienne Cléard,
Daniel Pauli,
Valérie Hilgers,
François Karch,
Robert K. Maeda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009843
Subject(s) - biology , hox gene , rna interference , gene , genetics , ectopic expression , non coding rna , transcription (linguistics) , rna , gene expression , regulation of gene expression , homeotic gene , microbiology and biotechnology , linguistics , philosophy
Intergenic transcription is a common feature of eukaryotic genomes and performs important and diverse cellular functions. Here, we investigate the iab-8 ncRNA from the Drosophila Bithorax Complex and show that this RNA is able to repress the transcription of genes located at its 3’ end by a sequence-independent, transcriptional interference mechanism. Although this RNA is expressed in the early epidermis and CNS, we find that its repressive activity is limited to the CNS, where, in wild-type embryos, it acts on the Hox gene, abd-A , located immediately downstream of it. The CNS specificity is achieved through a 3’ extension of the transcript, mediated by the neuronal-specific, RNA-binding protein, ELAV. Loss of ELAV activity eliminates the 3’ extension and results in the ectopic activation of abd-A . Thus, a tissue-specific change in the length of a ncRNA is used to generate a precise pattern of gene expression in a higher eukaryote.