DMMC Course: UNRAVELLING CHROMATIN & THE ROLE OF EPIGENETICS IN DISEASE

1530-1600 Tuesday 25 April 2006. UCD Conway Institute Lecture Theatre

The regulatory rise of small non-coding RNAs
Dr Charlie Spillane SFI Investigator, Biochemistry Department & Biosciences Institute, University College Cork, Ireland.

Eukaryotic cells harbour numerous small non-protein-coding RNAs, including small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), microRNAs (miRNAs), short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and small double-stranded RNAs, which can regulate gene expression at many levels. Some of these regulatory RNAs (such as antisense transcripts or miRNAs) play important roles in the epigenetic regulation of gene expression, including in phenomena such as genomic imprinting, dosage compensation, fragile X mental retardation and gene silencing. In particular, one novel class of RNA molecules called microRNAs have been discovered in recent years to play important regulatory roles in the cell and developmental biology of organisms as diverse as mammals and plants. To date, miRNAs have only been found in multicellular eukaryotes, supporting key roles for this evolutionarily conserved class of regulatory non-coding molecules in specifying cell differentiation and developmental patterning. Most microRNAs typically act to downregulate downstream genes that are under their control, by acting at the post-transcriptional level to reduce RNA or protein levels or timing/location of expression. It is becoming increasingly clear that such microRNAs are responsible for a hithertho unknown and extensive level of 'RNA-based' control of gene expression, cellular proliferation and organismal development. In our research group, we are investigating possible links between miRNAs and cancer.