The Effect of lncRNAs on Chromatin and Gene Regulation (John Rinn)

<p>In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we caught up with John Rinn from the University of Colorado in Boulder to talk about his work on the role of lncRNAs in gene expression and nuclear organization.</p> <p>The Rinn Lab pioneered the approach of screening the human genome for long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). More recently, the lab has shifted focus from measuring the number of lncRNAs to finding lncRNAs that have a distinct biological function in human health and disease. One example of such a lncRNA is FIRRE, which is present in all animals, however the sequence is not conserved, except for in primates. FIRRE contains many interesting features, such as repeat sequences and CTCF binding sites. In absence of FIRRE, defects in the immune system can be observed and also some brain defects may also be observed.</p> <p> </p> <p class="md-end-block md-p">References</p> <ul class="ul-list"><li class="md-list-item"> <p class="md-end-block md-p">Carter, T., Singh, M., Dumbovic, G., Chobirko, J. D., Rinn, J. L., & Feschotte, C. (2022). Mosaic cis-regulatory evolution drives transcriptional partitioning of HERVH endogenous retrovirus in the human embryo. eLife, 11, e76257. Advance online publication. <a href='https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76257'>https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.76257</a></p> </li> <li class="md-list-item"> <p class="md-end-block md-p">Long, Y., Hwang, T., Gooding, A. R., Goodrich, K. J., Rinn, J. L., & Cech, T. R. (2020). RNA is essential for PRC2 chromatin occupancy and function in human pluripotent stem cells. Nature Genetics, 52(9), 931–938. <a href='https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0662-x'>https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-020-0662-x</a></p> </li> <li class="md-list-item"> <p class="md-end-block md-p">Kelley, D., & Rinn, J. (2012). Transposable elements reveal a stem cell-specific class of long noncoding RNAs. Genome biology, 13(11), R107. <a href='https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2012-13-11-r107'>https://doi.org/10.1186/gb-2012-13-11-r107</a></p> </li> <li class="md-list-item"> <p class="md-end-block md-p