Non Coding RNA (ncRNA) News and Research

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Scientists uncover new RNA processing mechanism and a new class of small RNAs

A very small fraction of our genetic material - about 2% - performs the crucial task scientists once thought was the sole purpose of the genome: to serve as a blueprint for the production of proteins, the molecules that make cells work and sustain life.

26 Nov 2008

New gene-silencing pathway found in plants

Biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have made major headway in explaining a mechanism by which plant cells silence potentially harmful genes.

17 Nov 2008

RNAs emerge as major players in gene regulation

Tiny strands of genetic material called RNA - a chemical cousin of DNA - are emerging as major players in gene regulation, the process inside cells that drives all biology and that scientists seek to control in order to fight disease.

6 Jul 2008

Replacing absent microRNAs could make tumors less invasive, more treatable

One group of small, non-coding RNA molecules could serve as a marker to improve cancer staging and may also be able to convert some advanced tumors to more treatable stages, report a University of Chicago-based research team in the April 1, 2008, issue of the journal Genes & Development.

1 Apr 2008

Prader-Willi syndrome - new genetic clues

A new mouse model for a genetic cause of obesity has been developed by scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.

6 Mar 2008

Link between microRNA expression patterns and poor outcomes for colon cancer

Preliminary research has found an association between certain microRNA expression patterns and poor survival and treatment outcomes for colon cancer, according to a study in the January 30 issue of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.

30 Jan 2008

Coding and noncoding genes are involved in and cooperate in human tumorigenesis

A new study provides evidence that noncoding RNAs and interactions between noncoding genes play a much greater role in human cancer than was previously understood.

11 Sep 2007

RNA molecules can orchestrate gene activity across vast portions of the human genome

Large, seemingly useless pieces of RNA - a molecule originally considered only a lowly messenger for DNA - play an important role in letting cells know where they are in the body and what they are supposed to become, researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered.

29 Jun 2007

New genetic marker characterizes aggressiveness of cancer cells

Levels of a small non-coding RNA molecule called let-7 appear to define different stages of cancer better than some of the "classical" markers for tumor progression, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the June 25, 2007, early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

26 Jun 2007

Scientists shed light on the roll of junk DNA

University of Iowa scientists have made a discovery that broadens understanding of a rapidly developing area of biology known as functional genomics and sheds more light on the mysterious, so-called "junk DNA" that makes up the majority of the human genome.

13 Nov 2006

"Junk" RNA regulates important cellular processes

It has been known for a long time that much of a cell’s RNA stems from DNA regions called intergenic spacers (IGS) that lie between two genes and do not code for proteins.

9 May 2006

miR 155 overexpression can lead to cancer

Scientists in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center say that just one, single, malfunctioning microRNA is sufficient to cause cancer in mice.

18 Apr 2006

Research shows promise for the advancement of cancer and stem-cell research

The paper explains how proteins, known as epigenetic activators (such as Ash1 from the fruit fly Drosophila), bind to their target DNA and activate genes that determine what function a cell will have in the body.

1 Mar 2006

Spliceosome crucial for processing non-coding RNA

The discovery in 1977 that the coding regions of a gene could appear in separate segments along the DNA won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Richard J. Roberts and Phillip A. Sharp. The active segments of a gene were termed exons, separated from each other within the gene by inactive introns.

20 Oct 2005

Significant new breakthroughs in understanding how the genes in mammals are controlled

An international consortium of genome research institutes and investigators, including Jackson Laboratory Staff Scientists Carol J. Bult, Ph.D., and Martin Ringwald, Ph.D., has reported significant new breakthroughs in understanding how the genes in mammals are controlled.

6 Sep 2005

New understanding of how our genome works to produce a complex organism like a human being

A series of discoveries by an international consortium of scientists, including a team from The University of Queensland's Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB), will transform our understanding of how our genome works to produce a complex organism like a human being.

4 Sep 2005

Scientists demonstrate power of new generalized screen to find function of noncoding RNAs

A team of investigators at The Scripps Research Institute and the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) have discovered a way to screen hundreds and potentially thousands of "noncoding" RNA molecules to discover their functions within cells.

1 Sep 2005

MiRNA is opening up a whole new way of understanding carcinogenesis

Scientists mining vast, largely unexplored regions of the human genome have identified a small handful of mini-molecules that play a major role in the development of cancer and perhaps many other diseases.

15 Aug 2005