Comparison of Transcriptomes of Wild Type and Paraquat-treated cells by Next Generation RNA Sequencing

We use RNAseq to compare the transcriptomes of wild type and cells treated with 2.5 mM paraquat (PQ) for 8 hr. We find that PQ treatment results in changes in the transcripts for hundreds of genes. A notable subset of PQ-induced transcripts encodes proteins activated by the retrograde response pathway. This pathway is activated by ETC dysfunction and regulates carbohydrate metabolism to increase synthesis of biosynthetic intermediates through pathways including the TCA cycle, glutamine biosynthetic pathway, and isocitrate metabolism. Transcripts encoding oxidative stress response proteins (e.g. amino acid and iron transporters and siderophores) are also more abundant in PQ-treated cells.本研究采用RNA测序（RNAseq）技术，对比野生型细胞与经2.5 mM百草枯（PQ）处理8小时的细胞的转录组。研究发现，百草枯处理可引发数百个基因的转录本水平发生显著变化。其中，一类受百草枯诱导的转录本子集尤为值得关注，其编码的蛋白经逆行应答通路激活。该通路可因电子传递链（ETC）功能障碍被激活，并通过调控碳水化合物代谢，经由三羧酸循环（TCA cycle）、谷氨酰胺生物合成途径及异柠檬酸代谢等通路，增加生物合成中间产物的合成量。此外，编码氧化应激应答蛋白（如氨基酸转运蛋白、铁转运蛋白及铁载体）的转录本，在百草枯处理的细胞中同样呈现丰度升高的现象。