Essential Roles for RNA in Shaping Nuclear Organization
- 16 August 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
- Vol. 14 (5), a039719
- https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a039719
Abstract
It has long been proposed that nuclear RNAs might play an important role in organizing the structure of the nucleus. Initial experiments performed more than 30 years ago found that global disruption of RNA led to visible rearrangements of nuclear organization. Yet, this idea remained controversial for many years, in large part because it was unclear what specific RNAs might be involved, and which specific nuclear structures might be dependent on RNA. Over the past few years, the contributions of RNA to organizing nuclear structures have become clearer with the discovery that many nuclear bodies are enriched for specific noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs); in specific cases, ncRNAs have been shown to be essential for establishment and maintenance of these nuclear structures. More recently, many different ncRNAs have been shown to play critical roles in initiating the three-dimensional (3D) spatial organization of DNA, RNA, and protein molecules in the nucleus. These examples, combined with global imaging and genomic experiments, have begun to paint a picture of a broader role for RNA in nuclear organization and to uncover a unifying mechanism that may explain why RNA is a uniquely suited molecule for this role. In this review, we provide an overview of the history of RNA and nuclear structure and discuss key examples of RNA-mediated bodies, the global roles of ncRNAs in shaping nuclear structure, and emerging insights into mechanisms of RNA-mediated nuclear organization.Keywords
This publication has 120 references indexed in Scilit:
- Coding RNAs with a non-coding function: Maintenance of open chromatin structureNucleus, 2011
- Golgi Bypass: Skirting Around the Heart of Classical SecretionCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2011
- The NucleolusCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010
- A Strand-Specific Burst in Transcription of Pericentric Satellites Is Required for Chromocenter Formation and Early Mouse DevelopmentDevelopmental Cell, 2010
- The Nucleus IntroducedCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010
- The Cajal Body and Histone Locus BodyCold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2010
- Kcnq1ot1/Lit1 Noncoding RNA Mediates Transcriptional Silencing by Targeting to the Perinucleolar RegionMolecular and Cellular Biology, 2008
- Actin-dependent intranuclear repositioning of an active gene locus in vivoThe Journal of cell biology, 2007
- Cajal Bodies: The First 100 YearsAnnual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology, 2000
- Requirement for Xist in X chromosome inactivationNature, 1996