Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Life Sciences, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan.
Front Biosci (Landmark Ed). 2012 Jan 1;17(3):938-58. doi: 10.2741/3965.
Natural antisense transcripts are frequently transcribed from many genes in eukaryotes. Although natural antisense transcripts have been recognized for a long time, their importance has been overlooked due to their heterogeneity, low expression level, and unknown function. Genes induced in responses to various external stimuli are transcriptionally regulated by the activation of a gene promoter and post-transcriptionally regulated by controlling mRNA stability and translatability. Recent studies have shed light on the functions of natural antisense transcripts at the post-transcriptional level. An antisense transcript may regulate gene expression with cis-controlling elements on the mRNA, and the antisense transcript itself may act in concert with trans-acting factors, including various proteins that bind to cis-controlling elements, drugs, and microRNAs. A novel mechanism recently reported to regulate mRNA stability includes the interaction of the antisense transcript with mRNA by hybridization to single-stranded loops in secondary structures. This antisense transcript-mediated post-transcriptional regulation may be one of the general mechanisms for the regulation of inducible gene expression and presents the possibility of the involvement of natural antisense transcripts in disease.
天然反义转录本通常在真核生物的许多基因中被转录。尽管天然反义转录本已经存在了很长时间，但由于其异质性、低表达水平和未知功能，它们的重要性一直被忽视。基因在响应各种外部刺激时的表达受到基因启动子的激活转录调控，以及通过控制 mRNA 稳定性和翻译能力的转录后调控。最近的研究揭示了天然反义转录本在转录后水平的功能。反义转录本可能通过 mRNA 上的顺式调控元件来调节基因表达，反义转录本本身可能与反式作用因子协同作用，包括与顺式调控元件结合的各种蛋白质、药物和 microRNAs。最近报道的一种调节 mRNA 稳定性的新机制包括反义转录本通过与二级结构中单链环杂交与 mRNA 相互作用。这种反义转录本介导的转录后调控可能是诱导基因表达调控的一般机制之一，并提示天然反义转录本可能参与疾病。
