Center for Applied Medical Research; University of Navarra; Pamplona, Spain.
Epigenetics. 2014 Jan;9(1):21-6. doi: 10.4161/epi.27472. Epub 2013 Dec 13.
The emergence of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has shaken up our conception of gene expression regulation, as lncRNAs take prominent positions as components of cellular networks. Several cellular processes involve lncRNAs, and a significant number of them have been shown to function in cooperation with chromatin modifying enzymes to promote epigenetic activation or silencing of gene expression. Different model mechanisms have been proposed to explain how lncRNAs achieve regulation of gene expression by interacting with the epigenetic machinery. Here we describe these models in light of the current knowledge of lncRNAs, such as Xist and HOTAIR, and discuss recent literature on the role of the three-dimensional structure of the genome in the mechanism of action of lncRNAs and chromatin modifiers.
长非编码 RNA（lncRNAs）的出现颠覆了我们对基因表达调控的认识，因为 lncRNAs 作为细胞网络的组成部分占据了重要地位。几个细胞过程都涉及 lncRNAs，并且已经证明其中许多与染色质修饰酶合作，促进基因表达的表观遗传激活或沉默。已经提出了不同的模型机制来解释 lncRNAs 如何通过与表观遗传机制相互作用来实现对基因表达的调控。在这里，我们根据 Xist 和 HOTAIR 等 lncRNAs 的现有知识描述了这些模型，并讨论了关于基因组三维结构在 lncRNAs 和染色质修饰物作用机制中的作用的最新文献。
