Role of long intervening noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in skeletal muscle differentiation and regeneration

Role of long intervening noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in skeletal muscle differentiation and regeneration

Little is known how long intervening noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) are involved in skeletal myogenesis.

Researchers describe the discovery of Linc-YY1 from the promoter of the transcription factor (TF) Yin Yang 1 (YY1) gene.

They demonstrate that Linc-YY1 is dynamically regulated during myogenesis in vitro and in vivo. Gain or loss of function of Linc-YY1 in C2C12 myoblasts or muscle satellite cells alters myogenic differentiation and in injured muscles has an impact on the course of regeneration. 

Linc-YY1 interacts with YY1 through its middle domain, to evict YY1/Polycomb repressive complex (PRC2) from target promoters, thus activating the gene expression in trans. In addition, Linc-YY1 also regulates PRC2-independent function of YY1.

Authors also identify a human Linc-YY1 orthologue with conserved function and show that many human and mouse TF genes are associated with lincRNAs that may modulate their activity.

Altogether, authors show that Linc-YY1 regulates skeletal myogenesis and uncover a previously unappreciated mechanism of gene regulation by lincRNA.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151211/ncomms10026/full/ncomms10026.html
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