Silencing by imprinted noncoding RNAs: is transcription the answer?
Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) with gene regulatory functions are starting to be seen as a common feature of mammalian gene regulation with the discovery that most of the transcriptome is ncRNA. The prototype has long been the Xist ncRNA, which induces X-chromosome inactivation in female cells. However, a new paradigm is emerging--the silencing of imprinted gene clusters by long ncRNAs. Here, we review models by which imprinted ncRNAs could function. We argue that an Xist-like model is only one of many possible solutions and that imprinted ncRNAs could provide the better model for understanding the function of the new class of ncRNAs associated with non-imprinted mammalian genes.
Pauler
Florian M
FM
CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, c/o Institute of Genetics, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Vienna Biocenter, Dr. Bohr-Gasse 9/4, A1030 Vienna, Austria.
Koerner
Martha V
MV
Barlow
Denise P
DP
D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D020868:Gene Silencing; D015894:Genome, Human; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D006801:Humans; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D049951:X Chromosome Inactivation
D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding; D022661:RNA, Untranslated; C077885:XIST non-coding RNA