Arjun Raj

We recently showed that the mammalian genome encodes >1,000 large intergenic noncoding (linc)RNAs that are clearly conserved across mammals and, thus, functional. Gene expression patterns have implicated these lincRNAs in diverse biological processes, including cell-cycle regulation, immune surveillance, and embryonic stem cell pluripotency. However, the mechanism by which these lincRNAs function is unknown. Here, we expand the catalog of human lincRNAs to approximately 3,300 by analyzing chromatin-state maps of various human cell types. Inspired by the observation that the well-characterized lincRNA HOTAIR binds the polycomb repressive complex (PRC)2, we tested whether many lincRNAs are physically associated with PRC2. Remarkably, we observe that approximately 20% of lincRNAs expressed in various cell types are bound by PRC2, and that additional lincRNAs are bound by other chromatin-modifying complexes. Also, we show that siRNA-mediated depletion of certain lincRNAs associated with PRC2 leads to changes in gene expression, and that the up-regulated genes are enriched for those normally silenced by PRC2. We propose a model in which some lincRNAs guide chromatin-modifying complexes to specific genomic loci to regulate gene expression.

Individual cells in genetically homogeneous populations have been found to express different numbers of molecules of specific proteins. We investigated the origins of these variations in mammalian cells by counting individual molecules of mRNA produced from a reporter gene that was stably integrated into the cell's genome. We found that there are massive variations in the number of mRNA molecules present in each cell. These variations occur because mRNAs are synthesized in short but intense bursts of transcription beginning when the gene transitions from an inactive to an active state and ending when they transition back to the inactive state. We show that these transitions are intrinsically random and not due to global, extrinsic factors such as the levels of transcriptional activators. Moreover, the gene activation causes burst-like expression of all genes within a wider genomic locus. We further found that bursts are also exhibited in the synthesis of natural genes. The bursts of mRNA expression can be buffered at the protein level by slow protein degradation rates. A stochastic model of gene activation and inactivation was developed to explain the statistical properties of the bursts. The model showed that increasing the level of transcription factors increases the average size of the bursts rather than their frequency. These results demonstrate that gene expression in mammalian cells is subject to large, intrinsically random fluctuations and raise questions about how cells are able to function in the face of such noise.