Post-transcriptional gene regulation: From genome-wide studies to principles

• Published in: Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS Vol. 65; no. 5; pp. 798 - 813
• Main Authors: Halbeisen, R. E, Galgano, A, Scherrer, T, Gerber, A. P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel Basel : SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel 01.03.2008; Birkhäuser-Verlag; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Binding sites; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; DNA microarray; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation - physiology; Genome, Human; Humans; Life Sciences; Molecular biology; Physiology; Post-transcriptional gene regulation; Regulatory Elements, Transcriptional; Review; RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; RNA-binding protein; RNA-protein interactions; systems biology; Transcription, Genetic; translation; DNA microarray; systems biology; translation; RNA-binding protein; Post-transcriptional gene regulation
• ISSN: 1420-682X; 1420-9071
• DOI: 10.1007/s00018-007-7447-6

Post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression plays important roles in diverse cellular processes such as development, metabolism and cancer progression. Whereas many classical studies explored the mechanistics and physiological impact on specific mRNA substrates, the recent development of genome-wide analysis tools enables the study of post-transcriptional gene regulation on a global scale. Importantly, these studies revealed distinct programs of RNA regulation, suggesting a complex and versatile post-transcriptional regulatory network. This network is controlled by specific RNA-binding proteins and/or non-coding RNAs, which bind to specific sequence or structural elements in the RNAs and thereby regulate subsets of mRNAs that partly encode functionally related proteins. It will be a future challenge to link the spectra of targets for RNA-binding proteins to post-transcriptional regulatory programs and to reveal its physiological implications.