Lab at Chinese university finds new non-coding RNA molecule

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-02-25

The abstract of the paper posted on the university website.
 (Internet photo)

The laboratory of Dan Ge, a professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, has recently discovered a new circular form of non-coding RNA (Ribonucleic acid), molecule, dubbed the "dark matter" of the biology field, according to news web portal China.com.

The laboratory also revealed the function and the mechanism of the non-coding RNA molecule in international peer reviewed journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.

The research suggests that an imbalance in non-coding RNA molecules correlates with the occurence of certain major illnesses.

Dan Ge's laboratory discovered a new circular form of non-coding RNA, which regulates gene expression in the nucleus, hence the name Exon-intron circular RNA (EIciRNA). The research suggests that EIciRNA is involved in the recruitment of U1 snRNP to the transcription site, which accelerates transcription.

Circular RNA has become a focus for research in recent years, as previously researchers were more interested in chain shaped RNA molecules. EIciRNA, however, is almost completely located within the nucleus, which makes it different from those discovered previously.

The primary authors of the report were deputy professor Li Zhaoyong and doctorate students Huang Chuan and Chun Bao.