NRSE dsRNA (red) makes NRSF/REST (green) an activator in differentiating neurons.

Gage/Elsevier

Small RNAs are famous for their gene-silencing ability. But new results from Tomoko Kuwabara, Fred H. Gage (Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA), and colleagues show that some tiny RNA species turn genes on, not off.

This new class of RNAs is needed to make neurons. “Small double-stranded RNAs exist in reasonably high concentrations in cells that have just committed to neuronal lineages,” says Gage. These RNAs are homologous to a promoter sequence called NRSE/RE-1, which is found in a wide range of genes that are expressed only in neurons. In other cell types, these genes are known to be shut off by the NRSF/REST repressor.

The group shows that this repressor becomes an activator when NRSE dsRNAs are around. As a result, neuronal genes are turned on, and multipotent adult neural stem...

The Rockefeller University Press
2004
The Rockefeller University Press
2004
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