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Regulatory feedback from nascent RNA to chromatin and transcription

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 18, pages 331–337 (2017)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 10 September 2019

This article has been updated

Abstract

Transcription and chromatin function are regulated by proteins that bind to DNA, nucleosomes or RNA polymerase II, with specific non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) functioning to modulate their recruitment or activity. Unlike ncRNAs, nascent pre-mRNA was considered to be primarily a passive player in these processes. In this Opinion article, we describe recently identified interactions between nascent pre-mRNAs and regulatory proteins, highlight commonalities between the functions of nascent pre-mRNA and nascent ncRNA, and propose that both types of RNA have an active role in transcription and chromatin regulation.

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Figure 1: Nascent RNA couples RNA processing with transcription elongation and chromatin modification at specific positions along the gene.
Figure 2: Nascent RNA modulates the association of regulatory factors with chromatin to maintain gene activity.
Figure 3: Functional similarities between pre-mRNA and nascent ncRNAs and the formation of higher-order chromatin structures.

Change history

  • 09 March 2017

    In the version of the article originally published online, an incorrect sentence in the legend of Figure 1 has now been corrected. The statement now reads: "The methyltransferase KMT3A is recruited to specific locations within the gene through mechanisms dependent on splicing and interactions with heterogeneous nuclear RNP L (HNRNPL), contributing to the enrichment of histone H3 Lys36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) at exons." In addition, the configuration of arrows in Figure 3b was incorrect. This has now been corrected.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to J. Rinn for his comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lenka Skalska, Manuel Beltran-Nebot and Richard G. Jenner are at the UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, 72 Huntley Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.,

    Lenka Skalska, Manuel Beltran-Nebot & Richard G. Jenner

  2. Jernej Ule is at the Department of Molecular Neuroscience, UCL Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK,

    Jernej Ule

  3. The Francis Crick Institute, 1 Midland Road, London NW1 1AT, UK.,

    Jernej Ule

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Skalska, L., Beltran-Nebot, M., Ule, J. et al. Regulatory feedback from nascent RNA to chromatin and transcription. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 18, 331–337 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm.2017.12

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