nanoCAGE reveals transcriptional landscape of the mouse main olfactory epithelium
In mouse, odor is sensed by the main olfactory epithelium (MOE) by about 1100 types of olfactory receptors that are expressed by olfactory sensory neurons. Interestingly, each sensory neuron expresses only a single type of olfactory receptors, whose selective expression mechanism remains largely unknown. The population of olfactory sensory neurons that express a given olfactory receptor is small, which makes transcription analysis difficult.
Researchers at the RIKEN Omics Science Center recently developed nanoCAGE (CAGE: Cap Analysis of Gene Expression), the only technology that can comprehensively identify precise TSSs of both protein-coding and non-coding capped mRNAs and quantify their individual levels of expression starting from tiny biological samples of only a few nanograms of RNA (Plessy et al., Nature Methods, 7, 528-534, 2010). By using nanoCAGE on the MOE, the researchers succeeded in identifying 87.5% of the olfactory receptor gene TSSs. The results show for the first time that olfactory receptor genes contain hundreds of non-coding RNAs, suggesting that these RNAs may play important roles in the transcriptional regulation of olfactory receptors.
Dr. Piero Carninci commented, “Combined with CAGE, nanoCAGE technology provides a new opportunity to unveil gene networks in the nervous system using omics approaches.”
The research is published in the journal Genome Research.
REFERENCE
Plessy C, Pascarella G, Bertin N, Akalin A, Carrieri C, Vassalli A, Lazarevic D, Severin J, Vlachouli C, Simone R, Faulkner GJ, Kawai J, Daub CO, Succhelli S, Hayashizaki Y, Mombaerts P, Lenhard B, Gustincich S, Carninci P. “Promoter architecture of mouse olfactory receptor genes.” Genome Research, 2011, DOI: 10.1101/gr.126201.111
CONTACT
Piero Carninci
Functional Genomics Technology Team
RIKEN Omics Science Center
Tel: +81-(0)45-503-9222 / Fax: +81-(0)45-503-9216
Mail
Yokohama Planning Section
RIKEN Yokohama Research Promotion Division
Tel: +81-(0)45-503-9117 / Fax: +81-(0)45-503-9113
Global Relations Office
RIKEN
Tel: +81-(0)48-462-1225 / Fax: +81-(0)48-463-3687
Mail: koho@riken.jp
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry
Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.
Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.
Newest articles
Bringing bio-inspired robots to life
Nebraska researcher Eric Markvicka gets NSF CAREER Award to pursue manufacture of novel materials for soft robotics and stretchable electronics. Engineers are increasingly eager to develop robots that mimic the…
Bella moths use poison to attract mates
Scientists are closer to finding out how. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are as bitter and toxic as they are hard to pronounce. They’re produced by several different types of plants and are…
AI tool creates ‘synthetic’ images of cells
…for enhanced microscopy analysis. Observing individual cells through microscopes can reveal a range of important cell biological phenomena that frequently play a role in human diseases, but the process of…
