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Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis

The epigenome, i.e., the whole of chromatin modifications, is transferred from mother to daughter cells during cell differentiation. When de novo chromatin modifications (establishment or erasure of, respectively, new or pre-existing DNA methylations and/or histone modifications) are made in a daugh...

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Autores principales: Nishikawa, Ken, Kinjo, Akira R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5380698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28424740
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12551-017-0259-5
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author Nishikawa, Ken
Kinjo, Akira R.
author_facet Nishikawa, Ken
Kinjo, Akira R.
author_sort Nishikawa, Ken
collection PubMed
description The epigenome, i.e., the whole of chromatin modifications, is transferred from mother to daughter cells during cell differentiation. When de novo chromatin modifications (establishment or erasure of, respectively, new or pre-existing DNA methylations and/or histone modifications) are made in a daughter cell, however, it has a different epigenome than its mother cell. Although de novo chromatin modification is an important event that comprises elementary processes of cell differentiation, its molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. We argue, in this letter, that a key to solving this problem lies in understanding the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of RNA that is becoming increasingly prominent in epigenetic studies. Many studies show that lncRNAs form ribonucleoprotein complexes in the nucleus and are involved in chromatin modifications. However, chromatin-modifying enzymes lack the information about genomic positions on which they act. It is known, on the other hand, that a single-stranded RNA in general can bind to a double-stranded DNA to form a triple helix. If each lncRNA forms a ribonucleoprotein complex with chromatin-modifying enzymes on one hand and, at the same time, a triple helix with a genomic region based on its specific nucleotide sequence on the other hand, it can induce de novo chromatin modifications at specific sites. Thus, the great variety of lncRNAs can be explained by the requirement for the diversity of “genomic address codes” specific to their cognate genomic regions where de novo chromatin modifications take place.
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spelling pubmed-53806982017-04-17 Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis Nishikawa, Ken Kinjo, Akira R. Biophys Rev Letter to the Editor The epigenome, i.e., the whole of chromatin modifications, is transferred from mother to daughter cells during cell differentiation. When de novo chromatin modifications (establishment or erasure of, respectively, new or pre-existing DNA methylations and/or histone modifications) are made in a daughter cell, however, it has a different epigenome than its mother cell. Although de novo chromatin modification is an important event that comprises elementary processes of cell differentiation, its molecular mechanism remains poorly understood. We argue, in this letter, that a key to solving this problem lies in understanding the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), a type of RNA that is becoming increasingly prominent in epigenetic studies. Many studies show that lncRNAs form ribonucleoprotein complexes in the nucleus and are involved in chromatin modifications. However, chromatin-modifying enzymes lack the information about genomic positions on which they act. It is known, on the other hand, that a single-stranded RNA in general can bind to a double-stranded DNA to form a triple helix. If each lncRNA forms a ribonucleoprotein complex with chromatin-modifying enzymes on one hand and, at the same time, a triple helix with a genomic region based on its specific nucleotide sequence on the other hand, it can induce de novo chromatin modifications at specific sites. Thus, the great variety of lncRNAs can be explained by the requirement for the diversity of “genomic address codes” specific to their cognate genomic regions where de novo chromatin modifications take place. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2017-03-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5380698/ /pubmed/28424740 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12551-017-0259-5 Text en © The Author(s) 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Letter to the Editor
Nishikawa, Ken
Kinjo, Akira R.
Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title_full Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title_fullStr Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title_full_unstemmed Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title_short Essential role of long non-coding RNAs in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
title_sort essential role of long non-coding rnas in de novo chromatin modifications: the genomic address code hypothesis
topic Letter to the Editor
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5380698/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28424740
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12551-017-0259-5
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