HgcC family RNA

HgcC is a small non coding RNA (ncRNA). It is the functional product of a gene which is not translated into protein.

This ncRNA gene was originally identified by computationally searching the genome of the thermophilic bacteria "Methanococcus jannaschii" for non-coding regions of high guanine-cytosine (GC) contentcite journal | author = Klein RJ, Misulovin Z, Eddy SR | title = Noncoding RNA genes identified in AT-rich hyperthermophiles | journal = Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. | volume = 99 | issue = 11 | pages = 7542–7 | year = 2002 | pmid = 12032319 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.112063799 | issn = ] . The original rational for this search was based on the observation that the genomes of these bacteria are adenosine-thiamine (AT) rich and consequently have a low GC content. However, the GC content of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and transfer RNA (tRNA) genes in hyperthermophiles shows a strong correlation with optimal growth temperature cite journal | author = Galtier N, Lobry JR | title = Relationships between genomic G+C content, RNA secondary structures, and optimal growth temperature in prokaryotes | journal = J. Mol. Evol. | volume = 44 | issue = 6 | pages = 632–6 | year = 1997 | pmid = 9169555 | doi = 10.1007/PL00006186| issn = ] . It was proposed that non coding regions of high GC-content might encode functional RNA products. The computational screen identified 5 novel ncRNA genes in the genome of "M.jannaschii". These were named hgcA through hgcG ("high GC"). Two other homologues were detected called HhcA and HhcB after "homologue of hgcC" .

The HgcC gene product was experimentally validated by Northern blot and RACE-PCR analysis. The function of this ncRNA is not known.

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