An integrative model for alternative polyadenylation, IntMAP, delineates mTOR-modulated endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Nucleic Acids Res. 2018 Jul 6;46(12):5996-6008. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky340.

Abstract

3'-untranslated regions (UTRs) can vary through the use of alternative polyadenylation sites during pre-mRNA processing. Multiple publically available pipelines combining high profiling technologies and bioinformatics tools have been developed to catalog changes in 3'-UTR lengths. In our recent RNA-seq experiments using cells with hyper-activated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), we found that cellular mTOR activation leads to transcriptome-wide alternative polyadenylation (APA), resulting in the activation of multiple cellular pathways. Here, we developed a novel bioinformatics algorithm, IntMAP, which integrates RNA-Seq and PolyA Site (PAS)-Seq data for a comprehensive characterization of APA events. By applying IntMAP to the datasets from cells with hyper-activated mTOR, we identified novel APA events that could otherwise not be identified by either profiling method alone. Several transcription factors including Cebpg (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein gamma) were among the newly discovered APA transcripts, indicating that diverse transcriptional networks may be regulated by mTOR-coordinated APA. The prevention of APA in Cebpg using the CRISPR/cas9-mediated genome editing tool showed that mTOR-driven 3'-UTR shortening in Cebpg is critical in protecting cells from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. Taken together, we present IntMAP as a new bioinformatics algorithm for APA analysis by which we expand our understanding of the physiological role of mTOR-coordinated APA events to ER stress response. IntMAP toolbox is available at http://compbio.cs.umn.edu/IntMAP/.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • Algorithms*
  • Animals
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins / biosynthesis
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress / genetics*
  • Mice
  • Polyadenylation*
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / metabolism*

Substances

  • 3' Untranslated Regions
  • CCAAT-Enhancer-Binding Proteins
  • Cebpg protein, mouse
  • TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases