Mitotic spindle in a human cell showing microtubules (green), chromosomes (blue), and kinetochores (red). IMAGE: AFUNGUY, WIKIMEDIA
1. New role for long noncoding RNA
By hitching a ride in loops formed by chromosomes, long intergenic noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) can activate HOXA genes (a family of genes involved in cell patterning) over long ranges -- one of the few known examples of gene activation by lincRNAs.
K.C. Wang, et al., "A long noncoding RNA maintains active chromatin to coordinate homeotic gene expression," Nature, 472:120-4, 2011. Evaluated by W. Lee Kraus, Univ of Texas; Panagiotis Ntziachristos and Iannis Aifantis, HHMI/New York Univ School of Medicine; Leonie Ringrose, Inst of Molecular Biotechnology GmbH, Austria; Pamela Geyer, Univ of Iowa. Free F1000 Evaluation
For chromosomes to properly segregate during cell division, the spindle microtubules must be properly attached to protein complexes called kinetochores. ...
