Low-level illegitimate transcription of genes may be to silence the genes.
In yeast and plants, low level transcription of a gene is recently revealed to be required to repress the gene. It may account for the widely low level illegitimate transcriptions of tissue-specific genes reported in mammalian cells. This hypothetical link gives insight into both analysis of transcription-associated evolutionary events and further interpretation of the mechanism of small RNA-mediated transcriptional repression.
Niu
Deng-Ke
DK
Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, China. dkniu@bnu.edu.cn
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism*; D015966:Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; D020868:Gene Silencing / Q000502:physiology*; D008322:Mammals; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000502:physiology; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases