Unregulated transcription of noncoding and antisense RNAs is potentially deleterious to a cell and the accumulation of these transcripts is suppressed by several mechanisms. How cells differentiate coding RNAs from transcripts targeted for degradation is not clear. The variant histone H2A.Z, in cooperation with heterochromatin and RNAi factors, is now found to mediate suppression of antisense transcripts in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.
- Martin Zofall
- Tamás Fischer
- Shiv I. S. Grewal