Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.
Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2011;102:1-10. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-415795-8.00003-9.
Emerging evidence has begun to suggest that a vast array of noncoding RNAs is operative in human cells, with some containing the ability to directly modulate gene transcription. While observations of noncoding-RNA-based epigenetic regulation of gene expression were in the past relegated to imprinted or X-linked genes, it is now becoming apparent that several different genes in differentiated cells may be under some form of RNA-based regulatory control. Studies have begun to discern certain aspects of an underlying mechanism of action whereby noncoding RNAs modulate gene transcription. Much of the evidence suggests that noncoding RNAs are functional in controlling gene transcription by the targeted recruitment of epigenetic silencing complexes to homology-containing loci in the genome. The results of these studies, as well as the implications that a vast array of noncoding-RNA-based regulatory networks may be operative in human cells, are discussed. Knowledge of this emerging RNA-based epigenetic regulatory network has implications in cellular evolution as well as in an entirely new area of pharmacopeia.
新兴证据表明，大量非编码 RNA 在人类细胞中发挥作用，其中一些具有直接调节基因转录的能力。虽然过去观察到非编码 RNA 对基因表达的表观遗传调控仅限于印记或 X 连锁基因，但现在越来越明显的是，分化细胞中的几个不同基因可能受到某种基于 RNA 的调节控制。研究已经开始发现一种潜在作用机制的某些方面，即非编码 RNA 通过靶向募集表观遗传沉默复合物到基因组中含有同源序列的位点来调节基因转录。这些研究的结果以及大量基于非编码 RNA 的调控网络可能在人类细胞中发挥作用的暗示，都进行了讨论。对这个新兴的 RNA 表观遗传调控网络的认识不仅对细胞进化有影响，而且对药理学的一个全新领域也有影响。
