Transcriptional Enhancement of the mβglobin Gene by small RNAs

Abstract

The human βglobin locus encodes the β-like chains that form part of hemoglobin. The βglobin locus contains the five βglobin genes, most importantly the β-like globin chain, γglobin, which can substitute for the adult βglobin chain under certain circumstances. Observation of non coding RNA suggests RNA may regulate gene expression in specific genes such as those in the globin locus. The Martin lab isolated a fraction of small RNAs from Murine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells and aligned them to the promoters of the βminor and βmajor genes, mβ1 and mβ2, respectively. Another small RNA, HS2, was isolated from a vital upstream enhancer. The present study aimed to determine the relationship between these small RNAs and the globin locus.