Field of Genetics, Genomics and Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Field of Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Mol Reprod Dev. 2015 Dec;82(12):932-56. doi: 10.1002/mrd.22581. Epub 2015 Oct 30.
Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) have long been known to play vital roles in eukaryotic gene regulation. Studies conducted over a decade ago revealed that maturation of spliced, polyadenylated coding mRNA occurs by reactions involving small nuclear RNAs and small nucleolar RNAs; mRNA translation depends on activities mediated by transfer RNAs and ribosomal RNAs, subject to negative regulation by micro RNAs; transcriptional competence of sex chromosomes and some imprinted genes is regulated in cis by ncRNAs that vary by species; and both small-interfering RNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs bound to Argonaute-family proteins regulate post-translational modifications on chromatin and local gene expression states. More recently, gene-regulating noncoding RNAs have been identified, such as long intergenic and long noncoding RNAs (collectively referred to as lncRNAs)--a class totaling more than 100,000 transcripts in humans, which include some of the previously mentioned RNAs that regulate dosage compensation and imprinted gene expression. Here, we provide an overview of lncRNA activities, and then review the role of lncRNAs in processes vital to reproduction, such as germ cell specification, sex determination and gonadogenesis, sex hormone responses, meiosis, gametogenesis, placentation, non-genetic inheritance, and pathologies affecting reproductive tissues. Results from many species are presented to illustrate the evolutionarily conserved processes lncRNAs are involved in.
非编码 RNA（ncRNAs）长期以来一直被认为在真核生物基因调控中发挥着重要作用。十多年前的研究表明，拼接的多聚腺苷酸化编码 mRNA 的成熟是通过涉及小核 RNA 和小核仁 RNA 的反应发生的；mRNA 翻译取决于转移 RNA 和核糖体 RNA 介导的活性，受 micro RNA 的负调控；性染色体和一些印迹基因的转录能力由物种间不同的 ncRNAs 顺式调控；小干扰 RNA 和 piwi 相互作用 RNA 与 Argonaute 家族蛋白结合，调节染色质的翻译后修饰和局部基因表达状态。最近，已经鉴定出了基因调控非编码 RNA，例如长基因间和长非编码 RNA（统称为 lncRNAs）--人类中共有超过 100,000 个转录本，其中包括一些先前提到的调节剂量补偿和印迹基因表达的 RNA。在这里，我们概述了 lncRNA 的活性，然后综述了 lncRNA 在生殖过程中的重要作用，如生殖细胞特化、性别决定和性腺发生、性激素反应、减数分裂、配子发生、胎盘形成、非遗传继承以及影响生殖组织的病理学。介绍了来自许多物种的结果，以说明 lncRNA 参与的进化上保守的过程。
