位于转录起始位点附近的核心启动子是调控真核生物基因转录的关键区域。近年来发现的高等真核生物核心启动子具有多样的形状、结构和调控机制,使得对核心启动子多样化结构的研究成为了该领域新的研究热点。为研究简单真核生物启动子的结构及其参与调控的机制,我们利用CAGE技术在全基因组范围内捕获裂殖酵母(Schizosaccharomyces pombe)的转录起始位点,从而鉴定其核心启动子序列,并对其形状和序列进行分析。我们的研究揭示了低等真核生物酵母的核心启动子结构具有类似于高等真核生物的多样性,预示着其转录调控可能具有前所未知的复杂性。
Background: Core promoters, which immediately flank transcriptional starting sites, play an important role in eukaryotic transcriptional regulation. As a new frontier in this field, their diversified shapes, structures and regulatory mechanisms have been discovered in higher eukaryotes in recent years. Purpose: To further analyze their structure and transcriptional regulation mechanisms in simple eukaryotes. Methods: We used CAGE technology to capture the transcriptional starting sites in fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) on a genome-wide scale. We identified their core promoter regions and analyzed their shape and sequence. Results: Our research revealed that lower eukaryotes, like yeast, share the similar diversity in their core promoter structure with higher eukaryotes. Conclusions: Our result suggests that transcriptional regulations are probably more complicated in lower eukaryotes than we previously thought.