Antisense transcription can induce expression memory via stable promoter repression
Our work establishes a quantitative framework which predicts that antisense-mediated cis-memory can arise within physiologically relevant conditions, and shows that a biological phenomenon with kinetics in the range of weeks can emerge from the interplay of multiple faster molecular processes. This framework, combined with our experimental findings, demonstrates how antisense transcription can encode stable gene expression states. Our discovery that stem cells adjust their memory capacity during differentiation may clarify mechanisms underlying stemness maintenance.
Authors
- Melissa Bothe
- Lucija Librenjak
- Verena Mutzel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7237-0324)
- Ilona Dunkel
- Till Schwämmle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4650-0214)
- Edda G. Schulz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1253-6868)
- Rutger A. F. Gjaltema (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8144-0539)
- Gemma Noviello (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5212-0803)
- Benedikt Boesen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1010-3671)
- Svearike Oeverdieck
Institutions
- Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Genome biology
- Published
- 2025-12-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s13059-025-03875-1
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Pluripotent Stem Cells Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.81
Funders
- European Commission
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung