Repressing the repressor: A lincRNA as a microRNA sponge in embryonic stem cell self-renewal

Abstract

Large intergenic noncoding (linc) RNAs constitute a new dimension of posttranscriptional gene regulation. In this issue of Developmental Cell, Wang et al. (2013) find that linc-RoR maintains human embryonic stem cell self-renewal by functioning as a sponge to trap miR-145, thus regulating core pluripotency factors Oct4, Nanog, and Sox2. © 2013 Elsevier Inc.