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Paired genes in stem cells shed new light on gene organization and regulation

gene pairs

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (February 4, 2024) – Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that DNA transcription, the process that produces messenger RNA (mRNA) templates used in protein production, also runs in the opposite direction along the DNA to create corresponding long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Moreover, the mRNAs and lncRNAs are transcribed coordinately as stem cells differentiate into other cell types. This surprising finding could redefine our understanding of gene organization and its regulation.

“It’s a surprise to me that genes come in pairs,” says Whitehead Member Richard Young, who is also a professor of biology at MIT. “At any one of the 20,000 protein-coding genes that are active in human stem cells, a lncRNA gene located upstream is also transcribed. So much effort has gone into studying protein-coding genes, and yet we have missed this concept that all protein-coding genes come in mRNA/lncRNA pairs. If you activate the mRNA gene, you’re going to activate the lncRNA gene.”

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