Featured long non-coding RNA – PTENpg1

PTEN is a tumor-suppressor gene that has been shown to be under the regulatory control of a PTEN pseudogene expressed noncoding RNA, PTENpg1. Here, researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden characterize a previously unidentified PTENpg1-encoded antisense RNA (asRNA), which regulates PTEN transcription and PTEN mRNA stability. They found two PTENpg1 asRNA isoforms, α and β. The α isoform functions in trans, localizes to the PTEN promoter and epigenetically modulates PTEN transcription by the recruitment of DNA methyltransferase 3a and Enhancer of Zeste. In contrast, the β isoform interacts with PTENpg1 through an RNA-RNA pairing interaction, which affects PTEN protein output through changes of PTENpg1 stability and microRNA sponge activity. Disruption of this asRNA-regulated network induces cell-cycle arrest and sensitizes cells to doxorubicin, which suggests a biological function for the respective PTENpg1 expressed asRNAs.

• Johnsson P, Ackley A, Vidarsdottir L, Lui WO, Corcoran M, Grandér D, Morris KV. (2013) A pseudogene long-noncoding-RNA network regulates PTEN transcription and translation in human cells. Nat Struct Mol Biol [Epub ahead of print]. [abstract]