Other Functions of SnoRNA
snoRNAs can function as miRNAs. It has been shown that human ACA45 is a bona fide snoRNA that can be processed into a 21 nucleotides long mature miRNA by the RNAse III family endoribonuclease dicer. This snoRNA product has previously been identified as mmu-miR-1839 and was shown to be processed independent of the other miRNA generating endoribonuclease drosha. Bioinformatical analyses have revealed that putatively snoRNA-derived, miRNA-like fragments occur in different organisms.
Recently, it has been found that snoRNAs can have functions not related to rRNA. One such function is the regulation of alternative splicing of the trans gene transcript, which is done by the snoRNA HBII-52, which is also known as SNORD115.
Recent discovery also show, the existence of snoRNA, microRNA, piRNA characteristics in a novel non-coding RNA: x-ncRNA and its biological implication in Homo sapiens.
In November 2012 Schubert et al. reveal that specific RNAs control chromatin compaction and accessibility in Drosophila cells, providing another exciting example of the recent collapse between two worlds within the universe of science —those of RNA and chromatin.
Read more about this topic: Small Nucleolar RNA
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