TAGGING FATE: Like the Moirai, the three fates in Greek mythology, the promoter sequence can decide the lifespan of some messenger RNAs (shown here) as they are first transcribed in the nucleus. SHUNYUFAN/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
T. Trcek et al., "Single-molecule mRNA decay measurements reveal promoter-regulated mRNA stability in yeast," Cell, 147:1484-97, 2011.
Researchers have long thought mRNA degradation by cytoplasmic nucleases occurred randomly. But when Robert Singer and colleagues at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City traced the lives of two mRNA species from birth in the nucleus to death in the cytoplasm, they found that the fate of some mRNAs was decided by the promoter sequence that instigates gene transcription.
To track how mRNA degrades, first author Tatjana Trcek chose two genes, SWI5 and CLB2, whose transcription is regulated by the cell cycle. Looking at individual yeast cells using tools the lab had developed to count mRNA transcripts, the researchers were surprised to find that during ...
