Professor Jane Mellor, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford
Tuesday 17th November, 1.00 p.m., Keynes Lecture Theatre 6
We are interested in the link between transcription and the fate of the RNA transcripts. We are applying different techniques to address this. RNA-FISH coupled to mathematical modelling allows us to describe the nuclear-cytoplasmic distribution of transcripts, especially in mutant strains that disrupt the feedback link between transcript stability and transcription or under changing environmental conditions. We complement this with data on the production of nascent transcripts (native elongating transcript sequencing; NET-seq) and the poly A+ transcriptome in the same conditions and mutant backgrounds to reveal where we see effects on transcript stability and where changes are at the levels of transcription itself. To understand more about the fate of distinct classes of transcripts (pre-mRNAs, stable non-coding transcripts or unstable non-coding transcripts, for example) we adapted to NET-seq protocol to produce genome wide maps, at strand-specific and nucleotide resolution, of the association of different transcription elongation and RNA processing factors with nascent transcripts of distinct classes. These data reveal (i) dynamic association of factors with nascent transcripts over the transcription unit and (ii) different factors associated with different classes of nascent transcripts which in turn have distinct fates.