Junk DNA goodbye!: new study on lncRNA function (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, December 14, 2017, 00:41 (2537 days ago) @ David Turell

Using viruses to explore the possible function of long non-coding RNA, 200 or more bases long, a study shows functions, a further dagger in the heart of Darwinist claims about junk DNA:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-017-07692-w

"Could a class of host RNA known as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) also be targeted to achieve a similar goal? Analysis of the roles of cellular and viral lncRNAs in infection has previously focused mainly on modulation of innate immune responses2. Now, writing in Science, Wang et al.3 reveal a different mechanism by which the virus appropriates host-derived lncRNA: activation of a host-cell metabolic pathway required for viral replication.

"Long non-coding RNAs (non-coding RNAs more than 200 nucleotides long) have roles in many aspects of cell biology. In the nucleus, they are involved in transcriptional regulation and remodelling of chromosomes, and in the cytoplasm, they regulate microRNA function as well as the translation of mRNAs to generate proteins. But there are scores of lncRNAs whose functions have not been identified, so there are potentially many more roles to uncover.

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"They next analysed gene expression in cells deficient in lncRNA-ACOD1 and identified changes in the expression of many metabolic genes, suggesting that this lncRNA indirectly affects virus replication by modulating host metabolism.

"Wang et al. then recovered lncRNA-ACOD1 from cells and analysed the proteins associated with it. This revealed that lncRNA-ACOD1 specifically bound to the host protein glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase 2 (GOT2) — an enzyme involved in a variety of metabolic pathways, including the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which generates energy, and the uptake of long-chain fatty acids, which can be used as metabolic fuel by cells. Subsequent mechanistic analyses showed that lncRNA-ACOD1 not only bound GOT2, but also strongly potentiated its enzymatic activity (Fig. 1). This activation was, in turn, crucial for the generation of metabolites required for viral replication.

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"Wang and colleagues’ work adds to the list of known mechanisms by which lncRNAs can regulate crucial physiological processes. Much previous work has focused on the roles of mRNAs, even though they comprise only about 2% of the human genome. But some 80% of the genome is actively transcribed6, resulting in RNAs with no obvious coding potential, many of which may well have regulatory functions. Viruses have extremely limited genomic space relative to that of their hosts, and targeting a host-cell factor central to many metabolic processes, such as a key host lncRNA, would be an efficient way of adjusting the host-cell environment to suit their own needs. Clearly, further work that focuses on how viruses manipulate non-coding RNA function (and, in particular, the relatively under-studied lncRNAs) has the potential to greatly increase our understanding of how viruses take control of the cells they infect.

"Despite the elegance of Wang and colleagues’ story, questions remain about both lncRNA-ACOD1 and other viral metabolic targeting strategies. Prominent among these is understanding why decreasing GOT2 activity has such a marked effect on virus replication without detectably affecting host-cell viability. Wang et al. found that GOT2 depletion led to decreased levels of l-aspartate (an amino acid required for the biosynthesis of almost all proteins) and α-ketoglutarate (a key molecule in the TCA cycle, and hence central to energy production in the cell) — both of which are expected to have vital roles in host-cell metabolism. It is reasonable to expect that virus-infected cells, which produce thousands of viral progeny, would have higher energy requirements than uninfected cells. However, the finding that lncRNA-ACOD1 is largely dispensable for normal host-cell metabolism raises the question of why the molecule would be evolutionarily conserved when it is potentially so harmful to the host."

Comment: This article is on a study of viral mechanisms, but in the research they have uncoverd unknown normal incRNA functional controls. It is obvious that coding DNA does not do the whole job of maintaining live organisms. The other control layers are being uncovered and in doing so commpletely destroying the Darwinists claims that 'junk DNA' proves teh Darwin theory of a purposeless chance mmchanism that discards many mistakes along the way through natural selection for only good results. I've mentioned Dan Graur before:

"Remember Dan Graur and the debate about “junk DNA”? That 'if we permit the ENCODE consortium to claim 80% of non-coding DNA is useful, then Darwinists have lost' a game to ID?"