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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2023.04.27.538568

Abundant capped RNAs are derived from mRNA cleavage at 3'UTR G-Quadruplexes

Abstract

The 3 untranslated region (3UTR) plays a crucial role in determining mRNA stability, localisation, translation and degradation. Cap analysis gene expression (CAGE), a method for the detection of capped 5 ends of mRNAs, additionally reveals a large number of apparently 5 capped RNAs derived from 3UTRs. Here we provide the first direct evidence that these 3UTR-derived RNAs are indeed capped and often more abundant than the corresponding full-length mRNAs. By using a combination of AGO2 enhanced individual nucleotide resolution UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (eiCLIP) and CAGE following siRNA knockdowns, we find that these 3UTR-derived RNAs likely originate from AGO2-mediated cleavage, and most often occur at locations with potential to form RNA-G-quadruplexes and are enriched by RNA-binding protein UPF1. High-resolution imaging and long-read sequencing analysis validates several 3UTR-derived RNAs, demonstrates their abundance and shows that they tend not to co-localise with the parental mRNAs. We also find that production of 3UTR-derived RNA could explain the previously reported role of a 3UTR G-quadruplex in regulating the production of APP protein. Taken together, we provide new insights into the origin and abundance of 3UTR-derived RNAs, show the utility of CAGE-seq for their quantitative detection, and provide a rich dataset for exploring new biology of a poorly understood new class of RNAs. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=73 SRC="FIGDIR/small/538568v3_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (15K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@3f2ca7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@18ca1b6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1ccdd8dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@e58938_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

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BibTeXRIS

Haberman, N., Digby, H., Faraway, R., Cheung, R., Jobbins, A. M., Parr, C., Yasuzawa, K., Kasukawa, T., Yip, C. W., Kato, M., Takahashi, H., Carninci, P., Ule, J., Sibley, C. R., Martinez-sanchez, A., Lenhard, B., Vernia, S.. 2023-04-27. Abundant capped RNAs are derived from mRNA cleavage at 3'UTR G-Quadruplexes. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.27.538568

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