Unexpected Discovery Reveals RNA-Gene Promoter Interactions

Researchers have found that small segments of double stranded RNA are able to recruit certain proteins to form RNA-protein complexes that interact with promoter regions of the gene to either activate or inhibit gene function.

Investigators at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, USA) have broken with traditional concepts of molecular biology by publishing in the July 6, 2008, online edition of the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology that RNA can bind to and regulate areas of the gene that do not code for proteins. They made this discovery by using synthetic small segments of double stranded RNA (antigene RNAs or agRNAs) to activate or inhibit gene activity in cancer cell cultures.

"Involvement of RNA at a gene promoter is a new concept, potentially a big new concept,” said senior author Dr. Bethany Janowski, assistant professor of pharmacology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "Interactions at gene promoters are critical for understanding disease, and our results bring a new dimension to understanding how genes can be regulated.”

"Our findings about the underlying mechanisms of RNA-activated gene expression reveal a new and unexpected target for potential drug development,” said contributing author Dr. David Corey, professor of pharmacology and biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "By demonstrating how small RNAs can be used to recruit proteins to gene promoters, we have provided further evidence that this phenomenon should be in the mainstream of science.”


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University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center