mRNA Metabolism in Cardiac Development and Disease - Life After Transcription.

mRNA Metabolism in Cardiac Development and Disease - Life After Transcription. Physiol Rev. 2019 Nov 21;: Authors: Gao C, Wang Y Abstract The central dogma of molecular biology illustrates the importance of messenger RNAs as critical mediators between genetic information encoded at the DNA level and proteomes/metabolomes at the cellular and organ levels. Although the total number of protein-producing (coding) genes in the mammalian genome is approximately 20,000, it is evident that the intricate processes of cardiac development and the highly regulated physiological regulation in the normal heart, as well as the complex manifestation of pathological remodeling in a diseased heart, would require a much higher degree of complexity at the transcriptome level and beyond. Indeed, in addition to an extensive regulatory scheme implemented at the level of transcription, the complexity of transcript processing following transcription is dramatically increased. RNA processing includes post-transcriptional modification, alternative splicing, editing and transportation, ribosomal loading, and degradation. While transcriptional control of cardiac genes has been a major focus of investigation in recent decades, a great deal of progress has recently been made in our understanding of how post-transcriptional regulation of mRNA contributes to transcriptome complexity. In this review, we highlight some of the key molecular processes and major players ...
Source: Physiological Reviews - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Physiol Rev Source Type: research