Small RNAs articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    In response to bacterial CRISPR–Cas immunity, phages and plasmids have evolved small non-coding RNA anti-CRISPRs, known as Racrs, that sequester Cas proteins in abberrant complexes and thereby inhibit immunity.

    • Sarah Camara-Wilpert
    • , David Mayo-Muñoz
    •  & Rafael Pinilla-Redondo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    A study examining bacterial gene expression in human-derived samples identifies a gene encoding a small RNA and describes how it orchestrates the transition between chronic and acute infection in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

    • Pengbo Cao
    • , Derek Fleming
    •  & Marvin Whiteley

  • Article |

    A 22-nucleotide fragment of a transfer RNA regulates translation by binding to the mRNA of a ribosomal protein and increasing its expression, and downregulation of the fragment in patient-derived liver tumour cells reduces tumour growth in mice.

    • Hak Kyun Kim
    • , Gabriele Fuchs
    •  & Mark A. Kay

  • Article |

    Transcription of Drosophila PIWI-interacting RNA (piRNA) clusters is enforced through RNA polymerase II pre-initiation complex formation within repressive heterochromatin, accomplished through the transcription factor IIA subunit paralogue Moonshiner.

    • Peter Refsing Andersen
    • , Laszlo Tirian
    •  & Julius Brennecke

  • Article |

    RNA polymerase III (Pol III), the largest eukaryote polymerase yet characterized, transcribes structured small non-coding RNAs; here cryo-electron microscopy structures of budding yeast Pol III allow building of an atomic-level model of the complete 17-subunit complex, both unbound and while elongating RNA.

    • Niklas A. Hoffmann
    • , Arjen J. Jakobi
    •  & Christoph W. Müller

  • Letter |

    A newly developed method, NAD captureSeq, has been used to show that bacteria cap the 5′-ends of some RNAs to protect against degradation, much as happens with eukaryotic messenger RNAs, although with a different modification: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

    • Hana Cahová
    • , Marie-Luise Winz
    •  & Andres Jäschke

  • Letter |

    DEAD-box RNA helicase DDX21 is involved in both the transcription and RNA processing of ribosomal genes in human cells, sensing the transcriptional status of both RNA polymerase I and RNA polymerase II and associating with non-coding RNAs involved in ribonucleoprotein formation, possibly allowing for coordinated regulation of protein synthesis.

    • Eliezer Calo
    • , Ryan A. Flynn
    •  & Joanna Wysocka

  • Letter |

    It is unclear whether bidirectional non-coding RNAs transcribed from enhancer elements (eRNAs) have any functional role; here, eRNA transcription is shown to be functionally important during the activation of genes by the oestrogen receptor in human breast cancer cells.

    • Wenbo Li
    • , Dimple Notani
    •  & Michael G. Rosenfeld

  • Letter |

    To identify comprehensively factors involved in RNAi and microRNA-mediated gene expression regulation, this study performed a phylogenetic analysis of 86 eukaryotic species; the candidates this approach highlighted were subjected to Bayesian analysis with transcriptional and proteomic interaction data, identifying protein orthologues of already known RNAi silencing factors, as well as other hits involved in splicing, suggesting a connection between the two processes.

    • Yuval Tabach
    • , Allison C. Billi
    •  & Gary Ruvkun

  • Letter |

    A diploid organism has two copies of each gene, one inherited from each parent. The expression levels of the two alleles can be biased by dominant/recessive relationships. In Brassica, self-incompatibility in pollen is determined by dominance relationships between the two alleles of the gene SP11; the recessive allele is methylated and hence silenced. Here it is shown that such methylation is controlled by a small non-coding RNA encoded in the flanking region of the dominant allele.

    • Yoshiaki Tarutani
    • , Hiroshi Shiba
    •  & Seiji Takayama

  • Letter |

    Female gametes in flowering plants develop from a meiotic division of a precursor cell followed by mitotic divisions of one of the resulting haploid cells to yield the gametophyte. Here, ARGONAUTE 9 (AGO9) — a protein involved in RNA interference — is identified as a factor required for specification of the gametophyte. AGO9 is found not in the cell destined to be the gametophyte, but in the neighbouring companion cells, suggesting that it functions in a non-cell-autonomous manner.

    • Vianey Olmedo-Monfil
    • , Noé Durán-Figueroa
    •  & Jean-Philippe Vielle-Calzada

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