Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

A (ribo) switch in the paradigms of genetic regulation

Proteins are the dogmatic workhorses of genetic regulation, able to both sense the presence of small molecules and control gene expression levels. Two recent studies have now shown that RNA molecules can also serve as the 'sensor' components of genetic regulatory circuits.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Generalized scheme for feedback in genetic regulation.
Figure 2: Comparison of genetic control methods using RNA.

References

  1. Hermann, T. & Patel, D.J. Science 287, 820–825 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hamaguchi, N., Ellington, A. & Stanton, M. Anal. Biochem. 294, 126–131 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hesselberth, J., Robertson, M.P., Jhaveri, S. & Ellington, A.D. J. Biotechnol. 74, 15–25 (2000).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Stojanovic, M.N. & Landry, D.W. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 124, 9678–9679 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Yamamoto, R., Baba, T. & Kumar, P.K. Genes Cells 5, 389–396 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Robertson, M.P. & Ellington, A.D. Nature Biotechnol. 19, 650–655 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Soukup, G.A. & Breaker, R.R. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 10, 318–325 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Seetharaman, S., Zivarts, M., Sudarsan, N. & Breaker, R.R. Nature Biotechnol. 19, 336–341 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang, D.Y. & Sen, D. Comb. Chem. High Throughput Screen. 5, 301–312 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Winkler, W., Nahvi, A. & Breaker, R.R. Nature 419, 952–956 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Miranda-Rios, J., Navarro, M. & Soberon, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 9736–9741 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Stormo, G.D. & Ji, Y. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98, 9465–9467 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Nou, X. & Kadner, R.J. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97, 7190–7195 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Nahvi, A. et al. Chem. Biol. 9, 1043–1049 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Vitreschak, A.G., Rodionov, D.A., Mironov, A.A. & Gelfand, M.S. Nucleic Acids Res. 30, 3141–3151 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Gelfand, M.S., Mironov, A.A., Jomantas, J., Kozlov, Y.I. & Perumov, D.A. Trends Genet. 15, 439–442 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Dennis, C. Nature 418, 122–124 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ambros, V. Cell 107, 823–826 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wassarman, K.M. Cell 109, 141–144 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Rivas, E., Klein, R.J., Jones, T.A. & Eddy, S.R. Curr. Biol. 11, 1369–1373 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Grate, D. & Wilson, C. Bioorg. Med. Chem. 9, 2565–2570 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Werstuck, G. & Green, M.R. Science 282, 296–298 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew D. Ellington.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hesselberth, J., Ellington, A. A (ribo) switch in the paradigms of genetic regulation. Nat Struct Mol Biol 9, 891–893 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb1202-891

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nsb1202-891

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing