Further to the junk DNA guy not doing “politeness” any more when defending his challenged view that most DNA is junk, here is some RNA for him to get started on. This just in:
Regulation of metabolism by long, non-coding RNAs
… The regulation of metabolism and glucose homeostasis is orchestrated and fine-tuned by a complex interplay of tissues/organs. Currently, we are faced with an unprecedented rise of obesity in the civilized world and the concurrent increase in obesity-associated diseases such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). Key to the understanding of whole-body metabolism are the pleiotropic effects of the anabolic master regulator insulin which simultaneously controls peripheral as well as central-nervous system-related aspects of metabolism (Kahn et al., 2006). Resistance toward the effects of insulin constitutes a key step in the development of metabolic disease. The exciting observation that insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) 1 signaling also triggers distinct changes in lncRNA expression [e.g., of the lncRNA CRNDE (Ellis et al., 2013)] points to the fact that lncRNAs may also be implicated in the metabolic effects of insulin and the development of insulin resistance. Thus, a strong interest lies within the identification of lncRNA-mediated mechanisms governing energy and glucose homeostasis at the cell-intrinsic, organ and whole-body level. …
Non-paywalled and gets better. So don’t send non-coding RNA out with the recycling.
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