Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that DNA
transcription, the process that produces messenger RNA (mRNA) templates used in
protein production, also runs in the opposite direction along the DNA to create
corresponding long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Moreover, the mRNAs and lncRNAs
are transcribed coordinately as stem cells differentiate into other cell types.
This surprising finding could redefine our understanding of gene organization
and its regulation.
“It’s a surprise to me that genes come in pairs,” says
Whitehead Member Richard Young, who is also a professor of biology at MIT. “At
any one of the 20,000 protein-coding genes that are active in human stem cells,
a lncRNA gene located upstream is also transcribed.