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Long Noncoding RNA as a Regulator for Transcription

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Long Non-Coding RNAs

Part of the book series: Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology ((PMSB,volume 51))

Abstract

Investigation of noncoding RNAs is in rapid progress, especially regarding translational repression by small (short) noncoding RNAs like microRNAs with 20–25 nucleotide-lengths, while long noncoding RNAs with nucleotide length of more than two hundred are also emerging. Indeed, our analysis has revealed that a long noncoding RNA transcribed from cyclin D1 promoter of 200 and 300 nucleotides exerts transcriptional repression through its binding protein TLS instead of translational repression. Translational repression is executed by short noncoding RNAs, while transcriptional repression is mainly done by long noncoding RNAs. These long noncoding RNAs are heterogeneous molecules and employ divergent molecular mechanisms to exert transcriptional repression. In this review, I overview recent publications regarding the transcription regulation by long noncoding RNAs and explore their biological significance. In addition, the relation between a random transcriptional activity of RNA polymerase II and the origin of long noncoding RNAs is discussed.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks Ms. R. Tanji for the preparation of the manuscript and Dr. C.K.Glass for critical discussion. This work was supported by Takeda Science Foundation, the Naito foundations, Astellas Foundation for Research on Metabolic Disorders Foundation, and also by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B: nos22390057) and Grant-in-aid for “Support Project of Strategic Research Center in Private Universities” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to Saitama Medical University Research Center for Genomic Medicine.

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  1. Division of Gene Structure and Function, Research Center for Genomic Medicine, Saitama Medical University, 1397-1 Yamane, Hidaka-shi, Hidaka-shi, Saitama-Ken, 350-1241, Japan

    Riki Kurokawa

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  1. Riki Kurokawa
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Correspondence to Riki Kurokawa .

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  1. Center for Marine Research, Ruder Boskovic Institute, Bijenicka 54, Zagreb, 10001, Croatia

    Durdica Ugarkovic

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Kurokawa, R. (2011). Long Noncoding RNA as a Regulator for Transcription. In: Ugarkovic, D. (eds) Long Non-Coding RNAs. Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology(), vol 51. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-16502-3_2

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