Non-coding RNAs: An Introduction

For many years the main role of RNA, it addition to the housekeeping functions of for example tRNAs and rRNAs, was believed to be a messenger between the genes encoded on the DNA and the functional units of the cell, the proteins. This changed drastically with the identification of the first small non-coding RNA, termed microRNA, some 20 years ago. This discovery opened the field of regulatory RNAs with no or little protein-coding potential. Since then many new classes of regulatory non-coding RNAs, including endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs), PIWI-associated RNAs (piRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs, have been identified and we have made amazing progress in elucidating their expression, biogenesis, mechanisms and mode of action, and function in many, if not all, biological processes. In this chapter we provide an introduction about the current knowledge of the main classes of non-coding RNAs, what is know about their biogenesis and mechanism of function.