Noncoding RNA

The term "noncoding RNA" (ncRNA) referes to molecules which are neither used as messenger RNA, ribosomal RNA nor transfer RNA. Other names for this class of oligo- and polynucleotides are "small non-mRNA" (smnRNA), "functional RNA" (fRNA), "other RNA" (oRNA) and "small RNA" (sRNA). The latter term is predominantly used for bacterial noncoding RNA. Recent studies on ncRNA imply that their main function in cells is the pre- and posttranscriptional regulation of protein expression, but they may also be essential for some protein stabilisation and translocation processes.