Regulated post-transcriptional RNA cleavage diversifies the eukaryotic transcriptome

Abstract

The complexity of the eukaryotic transcriptome is generated by the interplay of transcription initiation, termination, alternative splicing, and other forms of post-transcriptional modification. It was recently shown that RNA transcripts may also undergo cleavage and secondary 5' capping. Here, we show that post-transcriptional cleavage of RNA contributes to the diversification of the transcriptome by generating a range of small RNAs and long coding and noncoding RNAs. Using genome-wide histone modification and RNA polymerase II occupancy data, we confirm that the vast majority of intraexonic CAGE tags are derived from post-transcriptional processing. By comparing exonic CAGE tags to tissue-..