Departamento de Genética Médica, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil .
Faculdade de Ciências Básicas, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Nova Friburgo, RJ, Brazil .
Genet Mol Biol. 2014 Mar;37(1 Suppl):285-93. doi: 10.1590/s1415-47572014000200014.
One of the major developments that resulted from the human genome sequencing projects was a better understanding of the role of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). NcRNAs are divided into several different categories according to size and function; however, one shared feature is that they are not translated into proteins. In this review, we will discuss relevant aspects of ncRNAs, focusing on two main types: i) microRNAs, which negatively regulate gene expression either by translational repression or target mRNA degradation, and ii) small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), which are involved in the biological process of RNA interference (RNAi). Our knowledge regarding these two types of ncRNAs has increased dramatically over the past decade, and they have a great potential to become therapeutic alternatives for a variety of human conditions.
人类基因组测序项目的主要成果之一是更好地理解了非编码 RNA（ncRNA）的作用。ncRNA 根据大小和功能分为几个不同的类别；然而，它们有一个共同的特征，即它们不被翻译成蛋白质。在这篇综述中，我们将讨论 ncRNA 的相关方面，重点讨论两种主要类型：i）microRNAs，通过翻译抑制或靶 mRNA 降解来负调控基因表达，以及 ii）小干扰 RNA（siRNA），其参与 RNA 干扰（RNAi）的生物学过程。在过去的十年中，我们对这两种类型的 ncRNA 的认识有了显著提高，它们有可能成为多种人类疾病的治疗替代方法。
