Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Minireview cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: RNA at the steering wheel. | Minireview RNA at the steering wheel Sabine Schmitt and Renato Paro Address Zentrum fur Molekulare Biologie Heidelberg ZMBH University of Heidelberg Im Neuenheimer Feld 282 69120 Heidelberg Germany. Correspondence Renato Paro. Email paro@ Published 26 May 2006 Genome Biology 2006 7 218 doi gb-2006-7-5-2l8 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http 2006 7 5 218 2006 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract Expression of the genetic information encoded in our genomes is usually regulated by proteins interacting with the DNA. In some cases however noncoding RNAs transcribed from DNA control elements cooperate with histone-modifying enzymes to regulate gene expression as has recently been shown for noncoding RNA originating from Polycomb- and Trithorax-group response elements. The large majority of DNA sequences of most eukaryotic genomes do not possess any coding capacity. Nevertheless many of these sequences are transcribed generating a vast amount of noncoding RNA 1 2 . We are still far from fully understanding the role of this seemingly nonproductive large-scale transcription. In some situations however the process of intergenic transcription and the noncoding RNAs generated have been linked to the epigenetic control of gene expression. Intergenic transcripts appear to influence the way chromatin - the complex of DNA and the histones that package it - controls gene expression 3 . A prominent example of this type of epigenetic gene regulation is the mechanism of cellular memory well studied in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Cellular memory is the inheritance of a cell s gene-expression program through cell division and this memory is a prerequisite for the maintenance of cell fates throughout development. In Drosophila cis-regulatory DNA element called PRE TREs consisting of Polycomb group response elements and Trithorax group response elements are central components of the .
