Landscape of transcription in human cells

• Published in: Nature (London) Vol. 489; no. 7414; pp. 101 - 108
• Main Authors: Djebali, Sarah, Davis, Carrie A., Merkel, Angelika, Dobin, Alex, Lassmann, Timo, Mortazavi, Ali, Tanzer, Andrea, Lagarde, Julien, Lin, Wei, Schlesinger, Felix, Xue, Chenghai, Marinov, Georgi K., Khatun, Jainab, Williams, Brian A., Zaleski, Chris, Rozowsky, Joel, Röder, Maik, Kokocinski, Felix, Abdelhamid, Rehab F., Alioto, Tyler, Antoshechkin, Igor, Baer, Michael T., Bar, Nadav S., Batut, Philippe, Bell, Kimberly, Bell, Ian, Chakrabortty, Sudipto, Chen, Xian, Chrast, Jacqueline, Curado, Joao, Derrien, Thomas, Drenkow, Jorg, Dumais, Erica, Dumais, Jacqueline, Duttagupta, Radha, Falconnet, Emilie, Fastuca, Meagan, Fejes-Toth, Kata, Ferreira, Pedro, Foissac, Sylvain, Fullwood, Melissa J., Gao, Hui, Gonzalez, David, Gordon, Assaf, Gunawardena, Harsha, Howald, Cedric, Jha, Sonali, Johnson, Rory, Kapranov, Philipp, King, Brandon, Kingswood, Colin, Luo, Oscar J., Park, Eddie, Persaud, Kimberly, Preall, Jonathan B., Ribeca, Paolo, Risk, Brian, Robyr, Daniel, Sammeth, Michael, Schaffer, Lorian, See, Lei-Hoon, Shahab, Atif, Skancke, Jorgen, Suzuki, Ana Maria, Takahashi, Hazuki, Tilgner, Hagen, Trout, Diane, Walters, Nathalie, Wang, Huaien, Wrobel, John, Yu, Yanbao, Ruan, Xiaoan, Hayashizaki, Yoshihide, Harrow, Jennifer, Gerstein, Mark, Hubbard, Tim, Reymond, Alexandre, Antonarakis, Stylianos E., Hannon, Gregory, Giddings, Morgan C., Ruan, Yijun, Wold, Barbara, Carninci, Piero, Guigó, Roderic, Gingeras, Thomas R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.09.2012; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/208/212/2019; 631/337/572; Alleles; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; DNA - genetics; DNA, Intergenic - genetics; Encyclopedias as Topic; Enhancer Elements, Genetic; Exons - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Genes - genetics; Genoma humà; Genome, Human - genetics; Genomes; Genomics; Genètica; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Life Sciences; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Annotation; multidisciplinary; Polyadenylation - genetics; Protein Isoforms - genetics; Proteins; Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics; Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics; RNA - biosynthesis; RNA - genetics; RNA Editing - genetics; RNA Splicing - genetics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sequence Analysis, RNA; Transcription, Genetic - genetics; Transcription. Transcription factor. Splicing. Rna processing; Transcriptome - genetics; Human; Transcription; Genome; small rnas; genome; enhancer; expression; identification; map
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature11233

Eukaryotic cells make many types of primary and processed RNAs that are found either in specific subcellular compartments or throughout the cells. A complete catalogue of these RNAs is not yet available and their characteristic subcellular localizations are also poorly understood. Because RNA represents the direct output of the genetic information encoded by genomes and a significant proportion of a cell’s regulatory capabilities are focused on its synthesis, processing, transport, modification and translation, the generation of such a catalogue is crucial for understanding genome function. Here we report evidence that three-quarters of the human genome is capable of being transcribed, as well as observations about the range and levels of expression, localization, processing fates, regulatory regions and modifications of almost all currently annotated and thousands of previously unannotated RNAs. These observations, taken together, prompt a redefinition of the concept of a gene. A description is given of the ENCODE effort to provide a complete catalogue of primary and processed RNAs found either in specific subcellular compartments or throughout the cell, revealing that three-quarters of the human genome can be transcribed, and providing a wealth of information on the range and levels of expression, localization, processing fates and modifications of known and previously unannotated RNAs. ENCODE: the transcription landscape These authors describe the ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) effort to provide a complete catalogue of primary and processed RNAs found either in specific sub-cellular compartments or throughout the cell. They show that three-quarters of the human genome can be transcribed, and provide a wealth of information about the range and levels of expression, localization, processing fates and modifications of both known and previously unannotated RNAs. Collectively, these observations suggest that the current concept of a gene should be revisited.