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Analysis of Novel 5'-UTR Polyadenylation Sites in Arabidopsis thaliana

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2016, Master of Science, Miami University, Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology (CMSB).
Messenger RNA (mRNA) polyadenylation is an indispensable step during post-transcriptional pre-mRNA processing in eukaryotes. The usage of one poly(A) site over another is known as alternative polyadenylation (APA). APA has been implicated in gene expression regulation through its role of selecting the ends of a transcript. Recent studies of polyadenylation profiles in the Arabidopsis database predicted that a portion of the poly(A) sites are located in the 5'-UTR. Here, we first describe 5'-UTR-APA and verify existence of independent polyadenylated 5'-UTR transcripts, arising due to alternative polyadenylation in the 5'-UTRs of the corresponding genes. We used 3'-RACE and sequencing to validate poly(A) sites and Northern blot to show that the observed short upstream transcripts do not arise from the 3'-end of a previously unrecognized convergent gene. We hypothesize that 5'-UTR polyadenylation may represent a gene silencing mechanism, and that truncated 5'-UTR transcripts may have functions, either existing as polyadenylated non-coding RNAs, or potentially to regulate gene expression by encoding a short peptide, which we call a 5'-UTR ORF. We propose a model to explain the features and functions of 5'-UTR ORF as well as the relationships between upstream ORF (uORF) and major ORF (mORF).
Jack Vaughn (Advisor)
Chun Liang (Committee Chair)
Yoshinori Tomoyasu (Committee Member)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Yingdong, Z. (2016). Analysis of Novel 5'-UTR Polyadenylation Sites in Arabidopsis thaliana [Master's thesis, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1480717686996059

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Yingdong, Zhu. Analysis of Novel 5'-UTR Polyadenylation Sites in Arabidopsis thaliana. 2016. Miami University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1480717686996059.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Yingdong, Zhu. "Analysis of Novel 5'-UTR Polyadenylation Sites in Arabidopsis thaliana." Master's thesis, Miami University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1480717686996059

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)