Poly(A) Tail Length of L4 C. elegans

Poly(A) tails are important elements in mRNA translation and stability. However, recent genome-wide studies concluded that poly(A) tail length was generally not associated with translational efficiency in non-embryonic cells. To investigate if poly(A) tail size might be coupled to gene expression in an intact organism, we used an adapted TAIL-seq protocol to measure poly(A) tails in Caenorhabditis elegans. Surprisingly, we found that well-expressed transcripts contain relatively short, well-defined tails. This attribute appears dependent on translational efficiency, as transcripts enriched for optimal codons and ribosome association had the shortest tail sizes, while non-coding RNAs retained long tails. Global investigation of L4 C. elegans poly(A) tail length by using mTAIL-seq and analysis by the tailseeker2 program. Two independent biological replicates were used.