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A novel termination pathway

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 16, page 205 (2015)Cite this article

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The mechanisms involved in the processing of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are largely uncharacterized. Dhir et al. now find that transcription termination of lncRNA transcripts containing primary miRNAs (lnc-pri-miRNAs) — which encode 17.5% of human miRNAs — involves cleavage by the Microprocessor complex rather than the canonical cleavage and polyadenylation pathway. The Microprocessor complex, which comprises the double-stranded RNA-binding protein DGCR8 and the RNase III endonuclease Drosha, is known to process pri-miRNA-containing protein-coding transcripts to give rise to miRNAs. Here, the authors found that liver-specific lnc-pri-miR-122 is not polyadenylated but contains a cleavage site for Drosha at its 3′ end. Moreover, depletion of DGCR8 or Drosha led to readthrough transcription, indicative of a termination defect. Genome-wide chromatin RNA sequencing analyses in HeLa cells indicated that Microprocessor terminates transcription of most lnc-pri-miRNAs.

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References

  1. Dhir, A. et al. Microprocessor mediates transcriptional termination in genes encoding long noncoding microRNAs. Nature Struct. Mol. Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2982 (2015)

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  1. Kim Baumann
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Baumann, K. A novel termination pathway. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 16, 205 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3976

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