title: Chromatin-bound RNA and the neurobiology of psychiatric disease.
abstract: A large, and still rapidly expanding literature on epigenetic regulation in the nervous system has provided fundamental insights into the dynamic regulation of DNA methylation and post-translational histone modifications in the context of neuronal plasticity in health and disease. Remarkably, however, very little is known about the potential role of chromatin-bound RNAs, including many long non-coding transcripts and various types of small RNAs. Here, we provide an overview on RNA-mediated regulation of chromatin structure and function, with focus on histone lysine methylation and psychiatric disease. Examples of recently discovered chromatin-bound long non-coding RNAs important for neuronal health and function include the brain-derived neurotrophic factor antisense transcript (Bdnf-AS) which regulates expression of the corresponding sense transcript, and LOC389023 which is associated with human-specific histone methylation signatures at the chromosome 2q14.1 neurodevelopmental risk locus by regulating expression of DPP10, an auxillary subunit for voltage-gated K(+) channels. We predict that the exploration of chromatin-bound RNA will significantly advance our current knowledge base in neuroepigenetics and biological psychiatry.
authors.affiliation: Friedman Brain Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Tushir
authors.affiliation: Friedman Brain Institute, Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States. Electronic address: Schahram.akbarian@mssm.edu.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Akbarian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002843:Chromatin / Q000378:metabolism; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006657:Histones / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D022661:RNA, Untranslated / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin; D006657:Histones; D022661:RNA, Untranslated
keywords: antisense; brain-derived neurotrophic factor; dipeptidyl-peptidase 10; histone methylation; non-coding RNA; polycomb repressor complex