We’re halfway through 2010, so we’ve decided to take a look back at some of the best epigenetics publications we’ve covered so far this year. Here are some of our favorite Non-Coding RNA headlines.
miRNA Decoys
Psuedogenes finally get some love. Long considered to just be wasted genomic space, it turns out that they do serve a purpose; as decoys for miRNAs that would otherwise be targeting their fully functional cousins.
June 23, 2010 miRNAs Duped by Pseudogene Decoys
miRNAs Fight Viral Infection
Although miRNAs receive most of their publicity for regulating their own transcriptome, we love a nice pub that captures miRNAs targeting foreign genomes too. This was an easy pick as three different human miRNAs were shown to bind the pb1 gene in the H1N1 influenza A virus…just another example of how micro’s are the Swiss Army knives of RNA.
June 22, 2010 miRNAs Enlist in Fight Against H1N1 Infection
miRNA as Forensic Biomarkers
You better stay on the right side of the law, because now even your own miRNAs might turn you in. miRNAs can now be used to ID body fluids and help investigators serve up justice.
February 17, 2010 CSI’s Newest Crime-Solving Tool: miRNAs
Exosomes Stopping All Stations
We always pictured miRNAs being confined to single cells, but check out this paper that shows them going mobile and using secreted exosomes to do it.
March 29, 2010 Viral miRNA Social Networking via Exosomes
All in the miRNA Family
miRNA and cancer. There are so many great publications being churned out in this area. It’s hard to select a few, but this one took a close look at the miR-200 family, the methylation status of their transcriptional start sites, and local histone mods so we couldn’t resist.
January 21, 2010 Cancer Suppression is a miR-200 Family Value