Askew D S, Xu F
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Cincinnati, OH 45267-0529, USA.
Histol Histopathol. 1999 Jan;14(1):235-41. doi: 10.14670/HH-14.235.
All polyadenylated RNAs expressed in mammalian tissues are assumed to be transported to the cytoplasm where they direct the synthesis of a protein product. This mainstream view of the function of polyadenylated transcripts is currently being challenged by the identification of a novel class of genes which, although they encode polyadenylated RNA, do not make a translated protein. Many of these noncoding RNAs are developmentally regulated or show highly restricted patterns of gene expression, and their functions are providing important insight into RNA-based mechanisms of gene expression, genomic imprinting, cell cycle progression, and differentiation. The purpose of this review is to discuss the current understanding of mammalian noncoding RNAs, and to highlight their potential for identifying new pathways of human disease.
哺乳动物组织中表达的所有多聚腺苷酸化RNA都被认为会转运到细胞质中，在那里指导蛋白质产物的合成。目前，这种关于多聚腺苷酸化转录本功能的主流观点正受到一类新基因的挑战，这类基因虽然编码多聚腺苷酸化RNA，但并不产生可翻译的蛋白质。这些非编码RNA中的许多在发育过程中受到调控，或表现出高度受限的基因表达模式，它们的功能为基于RNA的基因表达、基因组印记、细胞周期进程和分化机制提供了重要的见解。这篇综述的目的是讨论目前对哺乳动物非编码RNA的理解，并强调它们在识别人类疾病新途径方面的潜力。
