The dark matter rises: the expanding world of regulatory RNAs
The ability to sequence genomes and characterize their products has begun to reveal the central role for regulatory RNAs in biology, ... especially in complex organisms like humans! It is now evident that the human genome contains not only protein-coding genes, but also tens of thousands of nonโprotein coding genes that express small and long ncRNAs (non-coding RNAs). Rapid progress in characterizing these ncRNAs has identified a diverse range of subclasses that play a crucial roles in many cellular pathways, including the differentiation and development of cells and organs and, when mis-regulated, in a number of diseases, including cancer. A review essay published this month describes ncRNAs in relatively non-technical terms.













