The Influence of Antisense Gene Location on Target Gene Suppression in the Fission Yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

A fission yeast model was employed to investigate the influence of antisense gene location on the efficacy of antisense RNA-mediated target gene suppression. Fission yeast transformants were generated that contained the target lacZ gene at a fixed position and a single copy antisense lacZ gene integrated into various genomic locations, including the same locus as the target gene. No significant difference in lacZ suppression was observed when the antisense gene was integrated in close proximity to the target gene locus compared with other genomic locations, indicating that target and antisense gene colocalization is not a critical factor for efficient antisense RNA-mediated gene expression in vivo. Instead, increased lacZ downregulation correlated with an increase in antisense dose, with the steady-state levels of antisense RNA being dependent on genomic position effects and transgene copy number.