Abstract
Bilaterian animals operate the clusters of Hox genes through a rich repertoire of diverse mechanisms. In this review, we will summarize and analyze the accumulated data concerning long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that are transcribed from sense (coding) DNA strands of Hox clusters. It was shown that antisense regulatory RNAs control the work of Hox genes in cis and trans, participate in the establishment and maintenance of the epigenetic code of Hox loci, and can even serve as a source of regulatory peptides that switch cellular energetic metabolism. Moreover, these molecules can be considered as a force that consolidates the cluster into a single whole. We will discuss the examples of antisense transcription of Hox genes in well-studied systems (cell cultures, morphogenesis of vertebrates) and bear upon some interesting examples of antisense Hox RNAs in non-model Protostomia.
Highlights
IntroductionA little more than a century has already passed since Calvin Bridges, who worked in the laboratory of Thomas Hunt Morgan, revealed the new type of mutations in Drosophila melanogaster
A little more than a century has already passed since Calvin Bridges, who worked in the laboratory of Thomas Hunt Morgan, revealed the new type of mutations in Drosophila melanogaster.Those mutations were localized in bithotax locus and resulted in a partial transformation of the halter to the wing.Edward Lewis proceeded with Bridges’ work and within a few decades he described, in detail, the BX-C complex, which controls the morphogenesis of thoracic and abdominal segments of flies [1]
One can suggest that a huge number of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) which can be found in metazoan transcriptomes is the result of these mistakes
Summary
A little more than a century has already passed since Calvin Bridges, who worked in the laboratory of Thomas Hunt Morgan, revealed the new type of mutations in Drosophila melanogaster. One can suggest that a huge number of lncRNA which can be found in metazoan transcriptomes is the result of these mistakes This seems to be quite a rational view on the issue of huge lncRNA redundancy in comparison with mRNAs. it is recognized that the level of tissue-specificity, i.e., the preferential transcription in the definite cell type, at least of one subclass of lncRNAs—intergenic lncRNAs (lincRNAs)—is much higher than among protein-coding genes [15]. Antisense lncRNAs are synthesized from the coding DNA strand and can overlap the sequences of protein-coding genes and genes coding other lncRNAs. In the human genome, 44,624 antisense non-coding transcripts were found (according to LNCipedia). It is generally accepted that around 70% of protein coding genes of mammals have antisense transcripts, which are synthesized from their own (independent) or divergent (bidirectional) promotors [17]. Hox-regulation is mostly studied in mammals and human cell cultures [19,20,21,22]
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