Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Abstract
Resumen de la conferencia y el póster presentados al VI Meeting on Genetics and Cellular Biology of Basidiomycetes (GCBB-VI), organizado por y celebrado en la Universidad Pública de Navarra el 3-6 de junio de 2005.Our view of the role of RNA has changed from being a passive intermediary
of genetic information to acting as a regulator of gene expression in the form
of short-interfering RNA, micro RNA, riboswitches and natural antisense.
Long length natural antisense transcripts (NATs) have been identified for
genes which are up-regulated after harvest in the fruitbody of the mushroom
Agaricus bisporus. These NATs therefore are likely to be involved in the regulation
of postharvest events such as development and senescence. A novel
quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR technique has been developed. The
data have been statistically analysed to produce expression profiles of NATs
for six postharvest genes. The average antisense/sense ratios varied by three
orders of magnitude, from 8.0 for shs13 to 6 x 10-3 for cruciform DNA binding
protein. The expression profiles were found to be highly specific for individual
genes, to be dynamic over time and highly variable between neighbouring
tissues. This latter characteristic has led to the speculation that
NATs may be involved in tissue differentiation. Sequence information of
natural antisense transcripts form A. bisporus suggests that they are synthesized
from messenger (sense) RNA by RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase.
Evidence will be presented that to support the hypothesis that the level of
antisense may be controlled by the 3’ processing of sense RNA
