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Challenging the dogma: the hidden layer of non-protein-coding RNAs in complex organisms (2003)
| Venue: | Bioessays |
| Citations: | 94 - 5 self |
BibTeX
@ARTICLE{Mattick03challengingthe,
author = {John S. Mattick},
title = {Challenging the dogma: the hidden layer of non-protein-coding RNAs in complex organisms},
journal = {Bioessays},
year = {2003},
pages = {930--939}
}
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Abstract
The central dogma of biology holds that genetic informa-tion normally flows from DNA to RNA to protein. As a consequence it has been generally assumed that genes generally code for proteins, and that proteins fulfil not only most structural and catalytic but also most regula-tory functions, in all cells, from microbes to mammals. However, the latter may not be the case in complex organisms. A number of startling observations about the extent of non-protein-coding RNA (ncRNA) transcription in the higher eukaryotes and the range of genetic and epigenetic phenomena that are RNA-directed suggests that the traditional view of the structure of genetic regulatory systems in animals and plants may be incor-rect. ncRNA dominates the genomic output of the higher organisms and has been shown to control chromosome architecture, mRNA turnover and the developmental tim-ing of protein expression, and may also regulate tran-scription andalternative splicing. Thispaper re-examines the available evidence and suggests a new framework for considering and understanding the genomic program-ming of biological complexity, autopoietic development and phenotypic variation. BioEssays 25:930–939, 2003. 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Keyphrases
non-protein-coding rna complex organism hidden layer biological complexity rna-directed suggests genomic program-ming available evidence chromosome architecture tran-scription andalternative splicing new framework phenotypic variation central dogma genetic informa-tion genetic regulatory system developmental tim-ing epigenetic phenomenon wiley periodical mrna turnover genomic output regula-tory function traditional view protein expression autopoietic development
