Abundance of dinucleotide repeats and gene expression are inversely correlated: a role for gene function in addition to intron length

High and broad transcription of eukaryotic genes is facilitated by cost minimization, clustered localization in the genome, elevated G+C content, and low nucleosome formation potential. In this scenario, illumination of correlation between abundance of (TG/CA)n≥12 repeats, which are negative cis modulators of transcription, and transcriptional levels and other commonly occurring dinucleotide repeats, is required. Three independent microarray datasets were used to examine the correlation of (TG/CA)n≥12 and other dinucleotide repeats with gene expression. Compared with the expected equi-distribution pattern under neutral model, highly transcribed genes were poor in repeats, and conversely, weakly transcribed genes were rich in repeats. Furthermore, the inverse correlation between repeat abundance and transcriptional levels appears to be a global phenomenon encompassing all genes regardless of their breadth of transcription. This selective pattern of exclusion of (TG/CA)n≥12 and (AT)n≥12 repeats in highly tr...