IMADA - Department of Mathematics and Computer Science |
High-throughput transcriptomics has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt
that essentially the complete human genomes is transcribed RNAs that are
processed into a pletora of distinct products with their own specific
spatiotemporal expression patterns. Protein-coding mRNAs account only for a
fraction of total RNA mass and a tiny fraction of RNA diversity. Small
RNAs such as microRNAs and their relatives are only one among many types of
RNAs. Often dimissed as "transcriptional noise" or "junk RNA", there is
rapidly mounting evidence that this "dark matter of the genome" has
important regulatory functions in particular in the context of
differentiation. Recent discoveries established, for instance, a strong
link between mRNA-like ncRNAs and chromatin regulation, and provide evidence
for wide-spread chemical modifications of RNAs. I will
give a brief overview of recent highlights, indicate the
important contribution of computational approaches in this context,
discuss the implications of noncoding RNAs for the future of biomedical
research. Host: Daniel Merkle SDU HOME | IMADA HOME | Previous Page Daniel Merkle |