The Evf-2 noncoding RNA is transcribed from the Dlx-5/6 ultraconserved region and functions as a Dlx-2 transcriptional coactivator

The identification of ultraconserved noncoding sequences in vertebrates has been associated with developmental regulators and DNA-binding proteins. One of the first of these was identified in the intergenic region between the Dlx-5 and Dlx-6 genes, members of the Dlx/dll homeodomain-containing protein family. In previous experiments, we showed that Sonic hedgehog treatment of forebrain neural explants results in the activation of Dlx-2 and the novel noncoding RNA (ncRNA), Evf-1. In this report, we show that the Dlx-5/6 ultraconserved region is transcribed to generate an alternatively spliced form of Evf-1, the ncRNA Evf-2. Evf-2 specifically cooperates with Dlx-2 to increase the transcriptional activity of the…

• NU
  Northwestern University
• BF
  Bunning Food Allergy Institute, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
• HU
  Harvard University
• JH
  Johns Hopkins University
• NI
  National Institutes of Health
• EK
  Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development