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Hereditas(Beijing) ›› 2021, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (8): 737-746.doi: 10.16288/j.yczz.21-167

• Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Progress on sORF-encoded micropeptides

Xiangying Chen(), Mengwei Li, Ying Wang, Quan Chen, Hanmei Xu()   

  1. Engineering Research Center of Synthetic Peptide Drug Discovery and Evaluation of Jiangsu Province, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 211198, China
  • Received:2021-05-08 Revised:2021-07-06 Online:2021-08-20 Published:2021-07-23
  • Contact: Xu Hanmei E-mail:cxy000111@qq.com;13913925346@126.com
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines Nos(SKLNMZZCX201821);Supported by the Project Program of State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines Nos(SKLNMZZ202028);the National Science and Technology Major Projects of New Drugs Nos(2019ZX09301124);the National Science and Technology Major Projects of New Drugs Nos(2019ZX09201001);the National Science and Technology Major Projects of New Drugs Nos(2019ZX09301-110);China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Nos(2017M621884);China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Nos(2020M681787)

Abstract:

Existing research has shown that there are a large amount of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in organisms. Short open reading frames (sORFs) abundantly exist in molecular sequences inaccurately annotated as ncRNAs. Several sORFs can be transcribed and translated into evolutionarily conserved micropeptides, which were ignored in previous studies due to short sequence lengths and the limitations of research techniques. To date, sORF-encoded micropeptides with various functions have been found to play important roles in regulating vital biological activities. This article reviews the functional micropeptides which have been found in recent years, introduces the new micropeptide designated as MIAC that we have discovered and describes the related technologies for mining potential micropeptides, thereby providing insights and references for new micropeptide discovery for researchers.

Key words: non-coding RNA, small open reading frames, micropeptides