Osteoblast differentiation and bone formation (osteogenesis) are regulated by transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. Recently, a novel class of regulatory factors termed micro-RNAs (miRNAs) has been identified as playing an important role in the regulation of many aspects of osteoblast biology including proliferation, differentiation, metabolism and apoptosis. Also, preliminary da...

BCL6 is a transcriptional repressor that is overexpressed in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and follicular lymphoma. The N-terminal POZ domain of BCL6 interacts with transcriptional corepressors and targeting these associations is a promising therapeutic strategy. Previous structural studies of the BCL6 POZ domain have used a mutant form because of the low solubility of the wild-type recombinant...

microRNAs (miRNAs), defined as 21-24 nucleotide non-coding RNAs, are important regulators of gene expression. Initially, the functions of miRNAs were recognized as post-transcriptional regulators on mRNAs that result in mRNA degradation and/or translational repression. It is becoming evident that miRNAs are not only restricted to function in the cytoplasm, they can also regulate gene expression...

Knowledge of the role of RNA in affecting gene expression has expanded in the past several years. Small RNAs serve as homology guides to target messenger RNAs for destruction at the post-transcriptional level in the experimental technique known as RNA interference and in the silencing of some transgenes. These small RNAs are also involved in sequence-specific targeting of chromatin modification...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by mediating mRNA degradation or translational inhibition. MiRNAs are implicated in many biological functions, including neurogenesis. It has been shown that miRNAs regulate multiple steps of neurogenesis, from neural stem cell proliferation to neuronal differentiation and maturation. Mi...

The c-Myc transcription factor regulates a complex transcriptional program that leads to cellular transformation by targeting a large number of protein-encoding genes and non-coding RNAs. In this study, we show that a microRNA, miR-200c, is a novel c-Myc target that promotes cellular transformation and metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. MiR-200c achieves this oncogenic effect, at least in ...

Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 is a paradigmatic model organism for nitrogen regulation in cyanobacteria. Expression of genes involved in nitrogen assimilation is positively regulated by the 2-oxoglutarate receptor and global transcriptional regulator NtcA. Maximal activation requires the subsequent binding of the co-activator PipX. PII, a protein found in all three domains of life as an inte...

It is of great therapeutic importance to understand why tumors relapse after the failure of therapies targeting oncogenes to which cancer cells are addicted. In this issue, Kapoor et al. and Shao et al. identify the transcriptional coactivator YAP1 as a central driver of compensation for the loss of K-Ras signaling in K-Ras-dependent cancers.

ncRNAs (non-coding RNAs) are implicated in a wide variety of cellular processes, including the regulation of gene expression. In the present chapter we consider two classes of ncRNA: miRNAs (microRNAs) which are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and lncRNAs (long ncRNAs) which mediate interactions between epigenetic remodelling complexes and chromatin. Mutation and misexpressio...

The development of intratumoral hypoxia is a universal hallmark of rapidly growing solid tumors. Adaptation to the hypoxic environment, which is critical for tumor cell survival and growth, is mediated primarily through a hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-dependent transcriptional program. HIF activates genes that facilitate crucial adaptive mechanisms including increased glucose uptake and glycol...