Bidirectional Transcription and Antisense Repression of ataxin-7 Video
CAG repeat expansions in the ataxin-7 gene cause the neurodegenerative disorder SCA7. Al La Spada and colleagues have discovered that ataxin-7 expression is governed by SCAANT1, an antisense non-coding RNA transcribed from an adjacent alternative promoter. Transactivation of SCAANT1 is linked to repression of ataxin-7 transcription and chromatin remodeling, suggesting that altered epigenetic regulation may contribute to disease pathology. Read more in Sopher et al., Neuron 70(6).
