dc.contributor.author	Steglich, Claudia
dc.contributor.author	Lindell, Debbie
dc.contributor.author	Futschik, Matthias
dc.contributor.author	Rector, Trent
dc.contributor.author	Steen, Robert
dc.contributor.author	Chisholm, Sallie W
dc.date.accessioned	2012-02-23T19:37:44Z
dc.date.available	2012-02-23T19:37:44Z
dc.date.issued	2010-05-19
dc.date.updated	2012-02-23T16:06:34Z
dc.description.abstract	Abstract Background RNA turnover plays an important role in the gene regulation of microorganisms and influences their speed of acclimation to environmental changes. We investigated whole-genome RNA stability of Prochlorococcus, a relatively slow-growing marine cyanobacterium doubling approximately once a day, which is extremely abundant in the oceans. Results Using a combination of microarrays, quantitative RT-PCR and a new fitting method for determining RNA decay rates, we found a median half-life of 2.4 minutes and a median decay rate of 2.6 minutes for expressed genes - twofold faster than that reported for any organism. The shortest transcript half-life (33 seconds) was for a gene of unknown function, while some of the longest (approximately 18 minutes) were for genes with high transcript levels. Genes organized in operons displayed intriguing mRNA decay patterns, such as increased stability, and delayed onset of decay with greater distance from the transcriptional start site. The same phenomenon was observed on a single probe resolution for genes greater than 2 kb. Conclusions We hypothesize that the fast turnover relative to the slow generation time in Prochlorococcus may enable a swift response to environmental changes through rapid recycling of nucleotides, which could be advantageous in nutrient poor oceans. Our growing understanding of RNA half-lives will help us interpret the growing bank of metatranscriptomic studies of wild populations of Prochlorococcus. The surprisingly complex decay patterns of large transcripts reported here, and the method developed to describe them, will open new avenues for the investigation and understanding of RNA decay for all organisms.	por
dc.identifier.citation	Genome Biology. 2010 May 19;11(5):R54	por
dc.identifier.doi	10.1186/gb-2010-11-5-r54
dc.identifier.other	AU: MFU02241;
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/908
dc.language.iso	eng	por
dc.peerreviewed	yes	por
dc.publisher	BioMed Central
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
dc.title	Short RNA half-lives in the slow-growing marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus	por
dc.type	journal article
dspace.entity.type	Publication
person.familyName	Futschik
person.givenName	Matthias
person.identifier.ciencia-id	A71B-AD01-3501
person.identifier.orcid	0000-0002-6245-8071
person.identifier.scopus-author-id	14017989400
rcaap.rights	openAccess	por
rcaap.type	article	por
relation.isAuthorOfPublication	d58f3269-c7e1-4c22-b094-5cfe6750821b
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscovery	d58f3269-c7e1-4c22-b094-5cfe6750821b

Short RNA half-lives in the slow-growing marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus

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