Xiangting Wang1, Xiaoyuan Song1, Christopher K. Glass2 and Michael G. Rosenfeld1
-Author Affiliations
1Howard Hughes Medical Institute, School and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, California 92093-0651
2Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, California 92093-0651
Correspondence:mrosenfeld@ucsd.edu
SUMMARY
A major surprise arising from genome-wide analyses has been the observation that the majority of the genome is transcribed, generating noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). It is still an open question whether some or all of these ncRNAs constitute functional networks regulating gene transcriptional programs. However, in light of recent discoveries and given the diversity and flexibility of long ncRNAs and their abilities to nucleate molecular complexes and to form spatially compact arrays of complexes, it becomes likely that many or most ncRNAs act as sensors and integrators of a wide variety of regulated transcriptional responses and probably epigenetic events. Because many RNA-binding proteins, on binding RNAs, show distinct allosteric conformational alterations, we suggest that a ncRNA/RNA-binding protein-based strategy, perhaps in concert with several other mechanistic strategies, serves to integrate transcriptional, as well as RNA processing, regulatory programs.
Copyright © 2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved
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