Unscrambling the genome 英文参考文献.docVIP

Meeting report Unscrambling the genome Merlin Crossley Address: School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences, University of Sydney, New South Wales, 2006, Australia. E-mail: M.Crossley@.au Published: 30 April 2003 Genome Biology 2003, 4:320 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at /2003/4/5/320 ? 2003 BioMed Central Ltd progress has been made. Denise Barlow (Institute of Molec- A report on the 24th Annual Lorne Conference on the Organization and Expression of the Genome, Lorne, Victoria, Australia, 16-20 February 2003. ular Biology, Salzburg, Austria) explained the role in parent- specific gene silencing (imprinting) of the mouse Igf2r cluster of a 108 kb long non-coding RNA termed Air. Trun- cating the Air RNA by inserting a polyadenylation and cleav- age signal inhibits silencing of the Igf2r locus, suggesting that the RNA itself is critical. The Air RNA, which is encoded within the same gene cluster, is transcribed in the antisense direction relative to the Igf2r gene it silences, but it also turns off other genes within the cluster. Interestingly, it does not overlap with all the genes it affects, arguing against a simple antisense-mediated mechanism that is similar to RNA interference (RNAi). The recent accumulation of sequence data has allowed more detailed analysis of both protein and RNA products, and their new roles in the function and evolution of organisms and organelles are being revealed. The Lorne Conference on the Organization and Expression of the Genome covered an interesting range of topics - from new functions of RNA to nuclear architecture and genome evolution. Among the best understood non-coding RNAs are the microRNAs (miRNAs) that have been characterized by Victor Ambros and colleagues (Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, USA). The first miRNAs that were identified, lin-4