New Transcription regulator
A new mechanism for controlling gene expression has been discovered
A group of scientists from China and the United States has discovered a previously unknown mechanism by which RNAs can control the process of DNA transcription. The scientists described the discovery in an article published in the journal Science (Liu et al., N 6-methyladenosine of chromosome-associated regulatory RNA regulates chromatin state and transcription).
The human body is one of the most complex systems on Earth. We are made up of trillions of cells, each of which is controlled by thousands of proteins and other compounds. Every decade people discover new processes, solve riddles and get more and more questions about how our body works and what drives it. But each such discovery brings us closer to the creation of new methods of treatment and a better understanding of how the body works.
Scientists have long figured out how gene expression usually occurs: RNA is synthesized on the DNA matrix, which can then perform various functions depending on its type. In particular, RNA is able to reduce or increase the activity of certain genes. They, in turn, regulate protein production. Such a mechanism of control by the RNA synthesis of various compounds was considered the only one. However, in 2011 it was discovered that matrix RNA (mRNA), which was previously considered only a "carrier" of information from DNA to protein, can exert its own influence on the synthesis of compounds. Such functions of this macromolecule appeared after it was subjected to a reversible chemical process called methylation.
In the course of their new work, scientists have identified and characterized a number of proteins that recognize methylated mRNA. They affect the stability of this macromolecule and its translation. But when the researchers worked with mice, they saw that mRNA methylation could not fully explain all the observed phenomena. Trying to figure out the details of this process, scientists have discovered that it's all about chromosome-related regulatory RNAs (chromosome-associated regulatory RNA, carRNA), which do not encode proteins and are not directly involved in protein translation. Instead, they controlled the storage and transcription of DNA.
"Our discovery will have a serious impact on all biology," says one of the authors of the study, Professor Chuan He of the University of Chicago. "It directly affects gene transcription, and not just some of its types. Such a process can trigger a full-scale chromatin change and affect the transcription of 6,000 genes in the cell line we studied."
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