Noncoding RNAs in mental retardation

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Keith E. Szulwach, Emory University; Peng Jin, Emory University; Reid S. Alisch, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2009-03
• Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2009 The Authors Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Munksgaard
• Final Published Version (URL): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1399-0004.2008.01134.x/abstract
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Clinical Genetics
• ISSN: 0009-9163
• Volume: 75
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 209
• End Page: 219
• Grant/Funding Information: P. J. is a recipient of the Beckman Young Investigator Award and the Basil O’Connor Scholar Research Award as well as an Alfred P Sloan Research Fellow in Neuroscience.; This study was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grant (R01 MH076090).
• Keywords: Prader-Willi syndrome; noncoding RNA; mental retardation; microRNA; Angelman syndrome; 22q11 deletion/DiGeorge syndrome; Down syndrome; Rett syndrome; Fragile X syndrome
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Mental Health; Biology, Genetics; Health Sciences, Human Development

Abstract

Recent genome-wide interrogations of transcribed RNA have yielded compelling evidence for pervasive and complex transcription throughout a large majority of the human genome. Tens of thousands of noncoding RNA transcripts have been identified, most of which have yet to be functionally characterized. Along with the revelation that noncoding RNAs in the human genome are surprisingly abundant, there has been a surge in molecular and genetic data showing important and diverse regulatory roles for noncoding RNA. In this report, we summarize the potential roles that noncoding RNAs may play in the molecular pathogenesis of different mental retardation disorders. We suspect that these findings are just the tip of the iceberg, with noncoding RNAs possibly being involved in disease pathogenesis at different levels and through multiple distinct mechanisms.