Unexpected Discovery Reveals RNA-Gene Promoter Interactions

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