title: Enhancer RNAs: a class of long noncoding RNAs synthesized at enhancers.
abstract: Recent studies have revealed that active enhancers are transcribed, producing a class of noncoding RNAs called enhancer RNAs (eRNAs). eRNAs are distinct from long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), but these two species of noncoding RNAs may share a similar role in the activation of mRNA transcription. Emerging studies, showing that eRNAs function in controlling mRNA transcription, challenge the idea that enhancers are merely sites of transcription factor assembly. Instead, communication between promoters and enhancers can be bidirectional with promoters required to activate enhancer transcription. Reciprocally, eRNAs may then facilitate enhancer-promoter interaction or activate promoter-driven transcription.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Neuroscience, Dallas, Texas 75390-9111.
authors.forename: Tae-Kyung
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Boston Children's Hospital, Department of Ophthalmology, Boston, Massachusetts 02215.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hemberg
authors.affiliation: Genetics Department, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.
authors.forename: Jesse M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gray
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding