Whitehead Joanne, Pandey Gaurav Kumar, Kanduri Chandrasekhar
Institut Curie/CNRS UMR, Paris, France.
Biochim Biophys Acta. 2009 Sep;1790(9):936-47. doi: 10.1016/j.bbagen.2008.10.007. Epub 2008 Oct 30.
Genomic analyses have demonstrated that although less than 2% of the mammalian genome encodes proteins, at least two thirds is transcribed. Many nontranslated RNAs have now been characterized, and several long transcripts, ranging from 0.5 to over 100 kb, have been shown to regulate gene expression by modifying chromatin structure. Functions uncovered at a few well characterized loci demonstrate a wide diversity of mechanisms by which long noncoding RNAs can regulate chromatin over a single promoter, a gene cluster, or an entire chromosome, in order to activate or silence genes in cis or in trans. In reviewing the activities of these ncRNAs, we will look for common features in their interactions with the chromatin modifying machinery, and highlight new experimental approaches by which to address outstanding issues in ncRNA-dependent regulation of gene expression in development, disease and evolution.
基因组分析表明，尽管哺乳动物基因组中编码蛋白质的部分不到2%，但至少三分之二的基因组会被转录。现在已经鉴定出许多非翻译RNA，并且已经证明有几种长度从0.5 kb到超过100 kb的长转录本可通过修饰染色质结构来调控基因表达。在一些特征明确的位点发现的功能表明，长链非编码RNA可通过多种机制在单个启动子、基因簇或整条染色体上调控染色质，从而顺式或反式激活或沉默基因。在回顾这些非编码RNA的活性时，我们将寻找它们与染色质修饰机制相互作用中的共同特征，并强调新的实验方法，以解决在发育、疾病和进化过程中基因表达的非编码RNA依赖性调控方面的突出问题。
