Noncoding Transcription at Enhancers: General Principles and Functional Models

Mammalian genomes are extensively transcribed outside the borders of protein-coding genes. Genome-wide studies recently demonstrated that cis -regulatory genomic elements implicated in transcriptional control, such as enhancers and locus-control regions, represent major sites of extragenic noncoding...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annual review of genetics 2012-01, Vol.46 (1), p.1-19
Main Authors: Natoli, Gioacchino, Andrau, Jean-Christophe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetylation
Animals
Biochemistry, Molecular Biology
chromatin
Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly
Enhancer Elements, Genetic
Gene loci
gene regulation
Genomes
Genomics
histones
Histones - genetics
Histones - metabolism
Humans
Life Sciences
Mammals
Models, Molecular
ncRNA
Promoter Regions, Genetic
Proteins
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
RNA Interference
RNA polymerase
RNA Polymerase II - genetics
RNA Polymerase II - metabolism
RNA, Messenger - genetics
RNA, Messenger - metabolism
RNA, Untranslated - genetics
RNA, Untranslated - metabolism
Transcription Factors - genetics
Transcription Factors - metabolism
Transcription, Genetic
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Mammalian genomes are extensively transcribed outside the borders of protein-coding genes. Genome-wide studies recently demonstrated that cis -regulatory genomic elements implicated in transcriptional control, such as enhancers and locus-control regions, represent major sites of extragenic noncoding transcription. Enhancer-templated transcripts provide a quantitatively small contribution to the total amount of cellular nonribosomal RNA; nevertheless, the possibility that enhancer transcription and the resulting enhancer RNAs may, in some cases, have functional roles, rather than represent mere transcriptional noise at accessible genomic regions, is supported by an increasing amount of experimental data. In this article we review the current knowledge on enhancer transcription and its functional implications.
ISSN:0066-4197
1545-2948
0066-4197
DOI:10.1146/annurev-genet-110711-155459