Research: Intergenic interference

5 December 2005

RNA-mediated silencing may be taking place in the human beta-globin gene cluster.

It is becoming increasingly clear that protein-coding genes are not the only important components of the genome. In particular, many RNA transcripts are copied from DNA outside genes and have biological roles controlling the activity of genes.

Professor Nick Proudfoot and Dirk Haussecker at the University of Oxford have detected such intergenic transcripts in a cluster of genes coding for globin proteins, but have found no clear links with globin gene activity.

However, after eliminating the messenger RNA encoding the DICER protein, and thereby blocking RNA interference, they discovered that intergenic transcript levels increased across the globin cluster. This suggests that RNA interference is normally acting to silence genes, a phenomenon previously seen only at specialised areas of the chromosome, called centromeres.

External links

• Haussecker D, Proudfoot NJ. Dicer-dependent turnover of intergenic transcripts from the human beta-globin gene cluster. Mol Cell Biol 2005;25(21):9724–33.