Native Elongating Transcript Sequencing (NET-Seq) in wild-type fission yeast cells

Antisense transcription can regulate sense gene expression. However, previous annotations of antisense transcription units have been based on detection of mature antisense long non-coding (aslnc)RNAs by RNA-Seq and/or micro-arrays, only giving a partial view of the antisense transcription landscape and incomplete molecular bases for antisense-mediated regulation. Here, we used Native Elongating Transcript sequencing to map genome-wide nascent antisense transcription in fission yeast. Strikingly, antisense transcription was detected for most protein-coding genes, correlating with low sense transcription, especially when overlapping the mRNA start site. RNA profiling revealed that the resulting aslncRNAs mainly correspond to cryptic Xrn1/Exo2-sensitive transcripts (XUTs). ChIP-Seq analyses showed that antisense (as)XUTs expression is associated with specific histone modifications patterns. Finally, we showed that asXUTs are controlled by the histone chaperone Spt6 and respond to meiosis induction, in both cases anti-correlating with levels of the paired-sense mRNAs, supporting physiological significance to antisense-mediated gene attenuation. Our work highlights that antisense transcription is much more extended than anticipated and might constitute an additional non-promoter determinant of gene regulation complexity. Overall design: NET-Seq analysis in wild-type cells of S. pombe