Regulation of target gene expression by chromatin-associated protein-coding transcripts in plants.

Protein-coding transcripts in Arabidopsis can regulate target gene transcription independently of their protein products, with BT2 and GSL8 transcripts affecting growth and flowering.

• Why it matters: Understanding noncoding regulatory functions of transcripts expands knowledge of gene regulation beyond traditional protein-coding roles, revealing new layers of genome control in plants.
• What they did: Genome-wide profiling of RNA-chromatin interactions identified widespread associations, and functional experiments showed BT2 and GSL8 transcripts modulate gene expression via triplex-dependent and -independent mechanisms.
• The result: These findings demonstrate that protein-coding transcripts possess intrinsic regulatory activities, challenging the canonical view of mRNA function and suggesting a blurred boundary between coding and noncoding RNAs in plant genome evolution.